The Hime Squad
by shadowdemontenma
Summary: A new twist after the war. No Full Bringer Arc, and No Quincy Arc. I hate both. Not good with summaries, just give my story a chance please. It is a multi pairing story with multiple POV's. Please enjoy. M for implied citrus, and foul language. Will post a new chapter for 1 review of the previous one. Permanent system.
1. The Meaning of Heart

_**Ok starting a new story don't get mad. Its just an idea I have that's entirely separate from all of my other Bleach stories. I think its an ok idea at least. Most of this takes place after theThe Aizen arc (don't know the real name of the arc unfortunately) So...this is starting out as a flashback of during the war. Um it's gonna jump POV's between the characters that are the main feature. Um, I'm not gonna list all of the pairings I'm gonna do and I'm not gonna start this chapter off with a pairing, but I want to run by you all the possibility of Ulqui-Apache. She has a similar personality to Grimmy which is a popular pairing (Ul-Grim) but I don't like Yaoi and I won't write it, plus I have plans for Grimm, so let me know. I hate Orihime, but I will pair her with him if everyone hates my Apache idea. Okay, enough of that, here's the story.**_

The Meaning Of Heart – Chapter 1

It was entirely unexpected. Even as I lay dying before Ichigo's eyes, as I beg him to do the final blow and end it sooner, that woman's eyes began to tear. I never understood the point of crying. But I was starting to. For some reason, although I was that woman's captor, she cared that I was dying. She reaches her hand out to me, and in a moment of whim, I reach back. Something changes in her eyes as I begin to fade away. She takes a step forward, but Ichigo moves to block. She knocks his arm away, and puts her hands to her hair clips. I look onto the scene, stunned. "Shuno, Ayame, Soten Kisshun I reject!" she cries out. The two healing fairies make an oblong shape and my eyes widen as the pain from my wounds is erased. Even through everything I've done to Ichigo, trying my best to kill him, the man she loved, she brushes him aside to heal me. So if somehow her healing didn't work, I could die, knowing the meaning of caring.

At some point during her healing I must have passed out from exhausting my reiatsu. I was still surprised I could wake up again. Still, my carefully schooled expression showed nothing of my emotion. I sat up, fighting a wince as some of the wounds she hadn't had time to heal reopened. The minute the battle of Las Noches ended, Orihime went around healing the Espada that she could. And every one of them, like myself, pledged a loyalty to that woman. The woman who would heal her enemies after a battle, even though every one of us tried to kill her precious friends. Even Nnoitra, once healed, gave his loyalty to her. Although it was unspoken, whenever that woman was in the room, he became just a little more alert. She was their Hime, the one that cared for them when it became obvious that we were once merely tools.

So when we heard the battle was winding down on the other side, and that Ichigo had taken off after Aizen and all of us that she'd saved were willing to band together, open a Garganta and walk our Hime through. Following behind us, were the Shinigami that Orihime had also healed. It was amazing the strength of one woman. When we walked through to the fake Karakura, we saw everyone that was gathering around there dying wounded. "Gather them all together!" Shouts Orihime. "All of them, even the Arrancar! If they are alive, they will be healed. Please only the critically wounded, Fourth Division can take care of the smaller wounds of the Shinigami, and I will later take care of the Arrancar!" Orihime cries. The wounded Yammamoto looked outraged.

"What's the meaning of this? Are you truly a traitor?" he asks in anger. "That we would send forth members from my own army to rescue you and you rescue your captors, our enemies?" Several of the Shinigami looked disgruntled. Orihime puffed up, the strongest any of us had ever seen her.

"This war isn't about them. Its about those of yours, that defected and used them as a tool. It doesn't matter that they were once your mortal enemies, what they are now are sentient beings that mistakenly idolized a man that many of your own had idolized. Look at Momo Hinamori! What's become of her because of that man!" our Hime exclaims, shocking many. "Bring them forward thos of you that wish to be healed by the likes of a 'traitor'."

All of the remaining living Arrancar that were barely holding on were carefully brought forward and laid out in a line. The shinigami were brought next. "Shuno, Ayame, Soten Kisshun I reject!" Unexpectedly, Tsubaki pops out as well. He tugs on her hair, calling out her name but she ignores him. Finally when those being healed were beginning to stabilized, she looked at her angered fairy.

"You can't keep healing this way, you are running out of reiatsu." Tsubaki says. Orihime shakes her head. She'd been unable to do anything during the battles, and the least should could do was this. Everyone else was running dangerously low, and so could hers. But a pale hand grasped her shoulder, and other hands touched her arms, some grasped her legs, and somehow reiatsu was flowing into her. The Arrancar were sharing their reiatsu with her.

"Only what you can spare, I've saved you already you aren't going to die now," she said. The pale hand that first grasped her, fell away, and Ulquiorra stepped forward. He looked at her, with his sad eyes then at the Head Captain.

"All of us remaining Arrancar from Las Noches have pledged our loyalties to this woman. We will fight her battles, not Aizen's. We are no longer your enemies," Ulquiorra says. He turns back to their Hime, and all of the previously healed Arrancar who were sharing their reiatsu. Suddenly, the Kuchiki noble taps the shoulder of Grimmjow, who moves aside. He puts his hand on the girls shoulder in Grimmjow's stead. Kenpachi replaces Nnoitra. Rukia and Renji replace Loly and Menoly. Nelliel becomes her Adult form, and replaces Szayel. Orihime smiles, with tears in her eyes, as Hinagiku, Baigon, Lily, and Tsubaki grab handfuls of her hair and give her their strength as well. The Captain Commander stood stunned watching his soldiers and the Arrancar woman help the traitor. Finally, she was done, they were mostly healed. Orihime took a cautious step toward the Captain of the Second Division. She points to the woman's arm and Soi Fon's eyes widen. Shuno and Ayame cover where Soi's arm once was.

"But it's gone, Barragon destroyed it!" Soi Fon exclaims. She stared on stunned as her arm began to regenerate. Grimmjow stepped up beside their Hime.

"And that bastard Tosen obliterated mine," he says, flexing the arm Orihime had repaired. He slung an arm over the sweating Hime's shoulders, giving her the reiatsu he'd regenerated in the respite Byakuya had given him. Soi Fon flexed her new hand in awe. Orihime began to collapse, and Grimmjow caught her. He carried her back to the Arrancar group, and any of them that had on an extra coat laid it down on a flat piece of ground for her to rest on. Grimmjow rolled up his jacket and stuck it under her head.

The fallen begin to awaken and look around in stunned silence. All of them were wondering how they were alive. As explanations were made, and their Hime awoke from their nap, the other Arrancar pledged loyalty as well. Orihime stood. "I'm going to where Ichigo is," she declares. A portal was opened to the real Karakura town, and Ichigo's friends, as well as Ulquiorra and Grimmjow went through. The latter two went as extra protection for their Hime. They first run into Tatsuki, Keigo and them. She heals their scrapes, as her spiritually aware friends stared at her. She moves on, finding a sobbing Rangiku with a dying Gin. He was her next on the list. When he was stable, she continues. Finding Ichigo about to use the final Getsuga. "Tsubaki! Koten Zanshun I reject!" she says, waving towards Aizen. Everyone stared in shock of her rejection abilities. Tsubaki went straight threw Aizen and turned to investigate his handy work. Aizen screamed in agony. It was apparent that every attack she'd ever done with Tsubaki had lacked the intent this one had. Aizen began to dissipate as Hime ran to a completely stunned Ichigo. "Now there's no reason to give your life," she said, catching Ichigo as he collapsed.

_**Ok so believe me, as a Hime hater, I hate putting her in this light. As a hero, as someone big. But it worked so well with the way I wanted the story to go. So, RnR Hope you all liked it. And again, let me know about the Apache thing. **_


	2. The Squad 14

_**Thank you to Orihimechan for your wonderful review! As such, with my 1 review for a chapter policy, this is the first one to get updated! I'm glad you like this story! So without further ado, on with the story! This chapter follows Inoue.**_

The Squad 14 – Chapter 2

Captain Orihime Inoue walked into her office. She plops down at her desk, and pouts. There was a mountain of paperwork for her to do. Sighing, she pulls the first paper to her and sets to work. Quickly, she drifts off, thinking about what lead to this. It wasn't that she was at a Captain's strength, or even a Shinigami. But it was that she was the only one the other members of this Squad would listen to. And once a deal was struck about leaving the Arrancar alone so long as they didn't harm anyone in the Seireitei, the Head Captain wanted them to stay there. Probably so he could keep his eye on them. There was talk about using the Arrancar to fill the open positions in the Squads from past fatalities.

But that would come once they proved themselves. 14th would be dissolved after that and Orihime could return to Karakura town. Not that she was sure she wanted to.

Her Lieutenant walks in, and she tugs at her hair. "Is something wrong woman?" Ulquiorra asks. He sits at his own desk, going through his paperwork. At first their paperwork consisted of numerous consensus, calculating their number, their names, their abilities, things such as that. Now it was stuff forms upon forms about getting the members started on missions.

"I'm fine Ulquiorra, I just don't understand how there is this much paperwork! We don't go on missions! When I started this, Rukia told me that that was what most of the paperwork was. That and transfer papers, but my Squad is for hybrids only!" she exclaims. That was the new term for the Arrancar. Hybrids. Made them sound less like the enemy they used to be, every bit as unique, and encompassed even the Vizards, although there weren't any in her Squad. But it left the opportunity for future accidents. Things like with Ichigo. Which Kisuke promised her, that should she every die and become a spirit that she would go through the process that Ichigo did, rather than the Soul Society method. It made more sense, considering the Squad she was Captain of.

"If you need a break, take one. If necessary, I will stay late with you to make up for time," he said. He wasn't going to just do the paperwork for her, she needed the responsibility lesson, but she was no use to anyone if she was entirely stressed out. Orihime smiled at him.

"Thank you Ulquiorra!" she said brightly, vowing to work extra hard when she got back, so that they wouldn't have to stay late. She walks from the room, waving goodbye to him, and decides to walk through her Division. They'd expanded all of the Districts, to make up for the sudden jump in numbers. Instead of creating an entire new space for them alone, the Head Captain had decided that it would be better to expand the area of all of them and then reset the boundaries temporarily. Which was a good idea, considering that the hybrids were going to be moved throughout other Squads. She walks along, waving to her Squad members. She stops in the mess hall to grab something to eat.

The mess hall in her area always carried sweets, something she'd made sure of. There was nothing better to calm someone down from anger, nervousness, stress, or depression, than something sweet. She'd enlisted the hybrids that were in charge of making meals in Las Noches for the task of making sure there was always food for her Squad. But unlike Aizen, she'd also valued them for their other abilities, and she was making sure to have them trained. She sighed that was another thing she did paperwork on. Training.

Yamamoto wanted all of the hybrids trained. When they'd been under Aizen's command, there was no real training. They were placed by power and that was it. Orihime agreed with Yamamoto of course. That was why she'd made sure her 3rd seat, Grimmjow, was vigorous in their training. Coyote, the 4th seat, was only placed so low because of his laziness. It ensured he had much less work to do. And Tier Harribel, the 5th, was there because that was the seat she wanted. Orihime wasn't one to judge by power, although Ulquiorra's Segunda Etapa was the reason for his position. Should any of them wish to change seats, she'd let them discuss it themselves, so long as no one was too badly hurt.

Grabbing a large slice of chocolate cake with chocolate icing and chocolate sprinkles, she sat down and chowed. The chocolate had her feeling better in minutes. She rushes back to her office and settles down, powering through her paperwork as quickly as possible. One page caught her eye. A mission. Captain level. Her Divison had been given their own area to cover once the missions started rolling in. It was neglected because there hadn't been enough Shinigami to cover everywhere, but now it was assigned to them. And her Captain level mission? Clear it out enough that she can send some arrancar to cover the areas. 1 spirit mile areas weren't hard to cover, so long as the activity wasn't too awful. She read over the mission, and wrote down her own name, and Tier's name. Since most of her high seated members were Captain class she felt it was a good choice. And she knew it would be good to leave the Division in Ulquiorra's hands, as she knew he was the responsible choice, rather than leaving her 3rd seat in charge. She signs the paper, and walks over to show Ulquiorra.

"Can you handle the Division for a day or two, while Tier and I go clean out our area? I'll try to make it quick, and if you have any trouble, let me know when I get back alright?" She says. Ulquiorra nods, not one for words. "Give me a full report on what happens while I'm gone ok?" she asks. She finishes the paperwork for the day, and calls for one of the lower members of her Squad. Basically, whoever was outside her door. Sun-sun, one of Tier's fraccion (while they still were fraccion), walks in.

"What can I do for you?" she asks. The hybrids were still to wear their white clothing, which Orihime thought was silly. They should at least have to wear black, as to make one less difference between them. But she made sure that she wore the inverse too. She'd had Coyote return to Las Noches to get the outfit she'd worn then for her. Of course, she also wore the white captain's haori.

"I need you to see these to where they belong, I have them organized by where they go," she said. She hands the stack to Sun-sun, who leaves. That would be the last task she gave out for the day, as it was already evening. She yawns, and wishes Ulquiorra a good night. He was just finishing his own stack, so as she walks out the door, she waves another of the members in for him. She doesn't pay attention to who, as she was already feeling out the spiritual pressure of Tier.

Tier was in their designated outdoor training area. Mila Rose and Apache were there training with her. Orihime stands there watching. As they move, she catches glimpses of the long scar on Tier's back. It was from the wound Aizen gave her, and she'd never allowed Orihime to get rid of it. She wanted to bare the reminder of who she'd foolishly trusted, Tier had told her. As their practice session comes to a close, the three turn their attention to Orihime. "What is it captain?" Tier asks.

"I thought I'd let you know that I have you going with me for a mission to the other side," she said smiling. "This is our first mission there, so lets do good," she adds. Mila and Apache look stunned. They glance at Tier to see how she reacted. The blonde woman merely nodded, and the three walked off. "Sun-sun will return soon, I sent her to run out some paperwork for me!" she remembers to call out. Even though they were no longer fraccion, all of the previous fraccion still held close bonds with their Espadas.

Orihime walks to her room and flops into bed. She'd had some of her things brought over from her home, and even with her shrine to her brother, her bedspreads and all of those nice things she'd brought, she missed Karakura town, and she missed Tatsuki. She curls up under her blanket after changing into her comfortable pajamas and went to sleep. She worried about things there, but she knew Ichigo had taken care of it. He told the school she was finishing off her schooling up with the aunt that paid for her apartment, in order to spend time with her. Of course, all of her spiritually aware friends knew the truth. That she was living with the other people like Ichigo, that she was still alive, but the situation was complicated. Ichigo visited often with pictures and such of all her friends to keep her smiling. Those pictures were carefully tacked into the walls right beside her where she could see her smiling friends the minute she woke up every day.

_**Sooo, chapter 2! Hope you all enjoyed. Another thanks to OrihimeChan, you're review made me smile. **_


	3. The First Mission

_**Ok, so no wonder I ended up with no reviews for my second chapter. The whole thing was rather boring. My sincerest apologies. Also going from Tier to Tia makes more sense, just tried to make it all correct. Hope you all enjoy this chapter. **_

Chapter 3 – The First Mission

Orihime had made sure that everything was in order before she got ready for her Captain class mission. She'd told Grimmjow the training schedule for the weakest hybrids, who she had decided to focus on for a bit, she told Ulquiorra to remember to take breaks, that the paperwork did not have to be done and completed immediately, it wasn't due till the end of the day, she'd told Neliel to make sure Ulquiorra took at least one break, and in general, made sure things would run smoothly in her absense. She'd also left Ulquiorra with a Soul Pager, and orders to get her immediately if something were to go wrong. Finally, she'd collected Tia, and went to the Senkaimon. Two hell butterflies escorted them to their area. They had 3 days to clear roughly 30 spirit miles to a manageable amount. Which for her Squad, wasn't too hard. After several hours of searching for hollow spirit pressures and eradicating them, Orihime stops them to take a break. They sit on top of a building, watching the people below.

"Its different than I thought it would be," Tia says quietly. Orihime looked at her questioningly. "Working with the Shinigami. I expected them to remain hostile towards us, but some of them are even friendly. Especially those who fought so hard in Las Noches." she added.

"The Soul Reapers are hostile to any one thats not them at first," Orihime said with a giggle. "They were determined to kill Ichigo and the rest of us at first. But after we tossed them around a few times, and then eventually helped them out, they warmed up to us. But Captain Commander was smart enough to realize that sometimes an enemy can become a very good, very useful ally." Tia just looks out at the distance. Orihime hadn't expected much conversation out of the woman. She was always quiet, always thinking. Most of the hybrids were now. They'd trusted someone so deeply only to be betrayed by them in the end. They felt the same as Soul Society. Perhaps that was one of the deciding factors in the banding together of 14th. Empathy could work wonders. Orihime sighed. She'd never imagined that healing a group of people that, while they tended to be violent, had treated her fairly well would turn out this way. With her as the leader of them. Their queen she'd been told. Of course, had Barragon been alive, he would have protested, but Soi Fon had completely erradicated him. Nothing left to bring back. Such was the power of her zanpakuto though. Orihime stretched and turned from the spot they'd been standing at. "Time to continue our mission."

Upon their return, Orihime found that as expected nothing had gone awry. She returns to her office and sits down with her census in front of her. She wanted to choose varying level hybrids to be residential 'soul reapers' and the way she wanted to do it was specific. She pulled out her map of their area and started jotting down names and locations. She alternated her stronger ones she chose with the weaker ones, in case one area needed some help. She finished her list and sent it along to the Head Captain for review. She'd sent some of the former fraccion as well as the lower level hybrids. She would have to talk to Tia and Nnoitra the next day, as she was sending Tesla, Mila Rose and Sun Sun. Apache would stay, as she had an attitude problem that needed fixing before she was going to be let out away from any others. Tia was working on her with that. She then went on to write up a detailed report of the mission which she was bringing to the old man the moment she completed it.

She yawned loudly. Maybe she should have sent Ulquiorra and Tia instead of going herself. Then she wouldn't have to write the report Ulquiorra could just use his eye. She quickly ended that thought. She usually felt it was wrong to have Ulquiorra do that. It was just that she was so tired honestly. Ulquiorra stood from his desk and went to stand before hers. "Is there anything you require Woman?" Orihime jerks, startled. Since when had she begun to fall asleep?

"No I just need to finish my report and take it to Head Captain. The mission just exhausted me. I hadn't realized that its been so long since I had to use my abilities that much." she said laughing it off. Inside she could barely even muster the strength to move her arm.

"I will escort you," Ulquiorra said. He sat back down at his desk and waited. Come to think of it, he was here much later than usual. Had he been waiting on her? Orihime smiled. Once she finished her report, she stood to leave. Underneath was a paper she'd forgotten to send to 2nd. It was a copy of the same report she'd sent to all of the other divisions. It contained the number of hollow encountered, the strength of those hollows and similar items. All divisions were sending those reports now. They were monitoring the hollow to make sure that somehow they weren't increasing strength and such. Everyone feared the day that another Aizen situation might occur. She gasped loudly. If it had been 8th or 13th it would have been ok to send it in the morning. But to 2nd, to Soi Fon? Unacceptable. She dashed out of her office and bumped right into the person she was looking for.

"Grimmjow! I need you to take this to 2nd immediately!" Orihime said. "Its late!" Grimmjow started to laugh a little seeing the expression on their Hime's face. He took the paper and gave a typical Grimmy smile.

"I'll take it to her. I'll even cover for you," he said. That stopped Orihime. Grimmjow never took the blame. She looked at him with narrowed eyes, questioning him. "I'd do anything to mess with that uptight little stinger bee," he said, using his sonido and taking off. Orihime sighed. That didn't bode well. Ulquiorra and her set off for the 1st division.

Orihime felt herself being laid down in her soft bed. She sat up quickly, headbutting the person who put her there. It was Ulquiorra. "What happened?" she asks, embarrassed.

"You fell asleep while you were walking home," Ulquiorra said. Orihime blushed, thanking him. She covered up in her blanket deciding she was too tired to change, and Ulquiorra walked out. "Sleep in tomorrow Woman, it wouldn't do to have you work yourself to death."

"You can do that?!" she exclaims, showing some of the long gone spark of silliness she used to show. She sighed. Ever since she'd come here she hadn't had time for fun. She rolls to her side to say good night to her pictures. Her eyes rest on Ichigo. When was the last time she'd even thought of her crush? Was it last week? Yesterday? She couldn't remember anymore. She was so consumed with protecting her friend. Her hybrids. She fell asleep.

Grimmjow pulled out of his sonido and slammed open the door to Soi Fon's office. He could see through the window that the light was still on so he knew she was there. He knew she would be anyways. The short dark haired woman glared at him. "What do you want pest?" she says, going back to what she was working on. It was actually a letter requesting that that very blue haired annoying man before her be kept out of her division. It seemed like every evening the man would come to her division, open her door, and begin to make fun of her, try to rile her up into a fight. He was almost as obsessed with fighting her as he was Ichigo. It was time the hybrid was wasting her time. He slapped a paper down on her desk. She glanced at it. "That was supposed to be here earlier, why did it just arrive?" she asks with a glare.

"Orihime asked me to deliver it to you when she sent out the others, but I got distracted talking to the black cat running the roofs." he said. He knew her weakness for black cats. He'd noticed it the minute he'd stepped into her office the first time. She lept from her seat, eyes wild, before glaring. She'd almost asked where, then realized he was messing with her. The man was cruel. "Actually, I just felt like waiting to see if you would get mad," he tried again. She continued to glare.

"I have no time for this, I have training to do and I'm not training with you, leave my office before I remove you!" she said, stomping around her desk.

"Come on now Bee..." he said. Soi Fon hated that he'd met Yoroichi. He reached forward, presumably to sling an arm over her shoulders like he liked to. But Soi Fon grabbed his wrist, flipped him over her body, slammed him to the floor then kicked him through her doorway. She left the office quickly knowing there would be a fight if she didn't disappear. She heard the sound of the clumsy oaf breaking branches as he followed her. She sighed. Just then she felt the wind get knocked out of her, as she began to fall to the ground. She saw tanned arms in white sleeves wrap around her waist, and Grimmjow rolled. They hit the ground. Soi Fon groaned. She'd gone high up into the tree to hide better as she ran, and they'd fallen the full distance down. It had knocked the wind out of her. She rolled over off of Grimmjow's stomach, onto the arm he had laying flat on the ground. She looked over to find them nose to nose.

"Are...you ok?" she asked, a tiny blush creeping across her nose. Since when did she blush at the proximity of a man? She was no virgin, and she at men for breakfast figuratively. She must have lost her sense because she thought she saw Grimmjow moving closer.

_**And end chapter. Lol. Hope that was a bit better. Yes, I'm putting Grim and Soi together and yes its moving a little fast. At the moment. I have plenty of fun planned for these two but I wanted to get at least a little romance started as well as reveal my first pairing. That being said. Goodnight. **_


	4. Battle

_**Yahoo! I got a review! I haven't had an actual review in so long I didn't know what to do at first! But then I remembered, the proper response to a review is to write another chapter! I'll give a shoutout with my lovely reviewers name at the end of this chapter, so if you know who you are kudos to you! And can't wait to shout you out to anyone else that reads this. Also to any and all reviewers, I'm sorry I'm so bad at updating! Life is busy where I live. Anyways, on to the chapter. SPOILERS INVOLVED**_

Chapter 4... Battle.

Soi Fon shot up from the ground. Was it simply her imagination that he'd been closing the distance between them? It must have been because he stood up without any indication of what had been about to happen. Had it been so long since she'd been with anyone that her mind was playing tricks on her? It had been since before the betrayal, she realized. She straightened her shihakusho and looked up at the blue haired former Sexta. "Well then, be off on your way, I must get to looking at that report." she said, flash stepping away. She entered her office, shutting the door and leaning over her desk, hands bracing against the wooden surface. She sighed and sat down finishing her work for the night. Once completed she flicked off her desk lamp and made her way through the dimly lit streets to the barracks and into her quarters. After a hot bath she laid down to sleep.

* * *

Another morning in the Seireitei. Unohana walks into the medical building, and is unsurprised to see the usual amount of unconscious 11 members. There were other people here and there of course, and her returning patient Juushiro was back for another healing session. She made her rounds, starting with the sick captain, sticking a glowing hand tightly agains his chest to try to heal his lungs and allow him to live longer, and then aiding her squad members with the others. She ended with an ill patient. A shingami girl named Kato from 13th. She was burning with fever and complained of a bad headache and a burning in her gut. Unohana gave her a pain killer and had her lie down in the room she was given. It was unusual for Shinigami to get sick, but she wasn't too concerned it was most likely something minor that slipped through her much heightened immune system.

After dealing with patients, she went to file some medical reports, then continued to her office. She had other paperwork to do. She settled in at her desk, pulling the first paper off of the stack before her. She'd barely begun to fill the form in before her door is thrown open. Ever the picture of perfect calm even in battle, she merely glances up and smiles. "Can I help you Captain Kenpachi?" The infuriated 11th Captain stomped in, scratching furiously at his back. By way of answer, he stripped off his haori and dropped the top of his uniform. As a woman, she averted her gaze at first, Kenpachi was a bit of a looker if you were into fierce brutish men. Which she actually was. Well, the hidden part of her anyways. As a medical officer, however, she immediately lifted her gaze to the badly infected wound on his back. "Would you care to explain?" she asks, moving around her desk.

"That bastard Ikkaku got in a lucky shot a week and a half ago. It wasn't deep so I just ignored it like I always do." Kenpachi said. Of course he did. He was in at least once a month for infections now that it was out that Ikkaku had a Bankai. And every time, it was the same. He wouldn't go to the medical center, just barge into her office and wait for her there. He refused to be seen at her center. She had him lay down on her floor and knelt gracefully to heal him from there. It reminded her of the time from so long ago. Her eyes widened. It been quite some time since she'd thought of her last day as the first Kenpachi. Kenpachi Yachiru, she mused. Of course, Kenpachi Zaraki wouldn't remember who she was. She'd made certain of it when she'd brought him back from the brink of death after he'd held back on her so much that she'd beaten him. She smiled fondly at him before finishing up and schooling her expression into the normal Unohana smile.

"You're all finished" she says. Kenpachi stops to study the kneeling woman as he stood up. Then he wordlessly turns and walks to the door. He pauses just outside it.

"Thanks" he says before shutting the door. It was sad that seeing the strongest man in all of Seireitei speak a kindness enraged her. But the side of her that was still Yachiru was indeed seething that her favorite opponent could just show a weakness like that. And to Yachiru, mannerisms were truly a weakness meant only for the snooty stuck up nobility. She'd love nothing more than to see the man brutalizing her in battle again one day.

Shaking her head, Unohana went back to her desk and the days work.

* * *

Soi Fon bristles as she feels the spiritual pressure racing towards her office. What now she not only had to deal with his nightly visits, but he was coming in the daytime? She sighs. She didn't have time to keep up with the hybrid, especially since she had both her and Omeada's paperwork to complete. She flinches remembering the moment that not many had realized had happened at first. It was just as they were finishing off Barragon. His death haze had been creeping in undetected by Soi Fon to reach her from behind. She was too busy preparing Jakuho Raikoben. But Omeada had seen it, and thrown her out of the way in time for her to avoid the haze, but he'd been devoured by it. She'd refused to hire a new Lieutenant.

That blue haired devil from the night before blew into her office. She took a deep breath and held in her anger. It wasn't the way to get rid of the man. He liked her anger. It was fun for him. She repeated this mentally before she let out a long sigh. Grimm froze narrowing his eyes. Soi Fon nearly grinned in victory. But she kept her expression miserable and took a slow breath before looking into Grimm's teal eyes. "I don't have time for you kitty, I'm busy with too much paperwork." she could nearly kick herself for the taunt she'd thrown in there, but kept her cool. Grimm's eyes further narrowed.

"I'm sorry to hear that Killer Bee, but I'm not falling for your tricks. You know you want to train just as much as I do." he said softly. Killer Bee? A fitting nickname she supposed, but still too close to what Lady Yoroichi called her. She gave up the pretense and scowled.

"It's Captain Soi Fon, and sorry to say it, but I truly have too much paperwork to do today to play with you." Grimm smiled, knowing he'd won. He could continue to pester her if he wanted. But something in her expression as she ignored him and pulled down a sheet of paper made him pause. He sighed too. That was a pretty big stack. He smacked his hands down on her desk, leaning down over the pile and put his face near hers.

"If you get finished early and get bored you know where to find me," he said, and was gone before Soi could blink. She sighed for real, settling down to the boredom of paperwork. Her mind occasionally drifted to the night before and how close their faces had been then. Was Grimmjow...interested in her? It didn't matter, dating a hybrid would be frowned upon, she certainly wouldn't be the first. She shook her head. Date? Since when did she bother with things like that. She had flings with men, as none could handle her for more than a night. She had a tendancy to overpower them and make them feel like lesser men. She just liked control. And besides, she didn't have time for anything serious. Like Grimmjow was the type for anything serious. She furiously shook her head telling herself that her attraction was merely because he was a panther.

* * *

Grimmjow wandered around for a bit. It was his day off. Which was why he'd gone to pester Soi during the daytime. He drifted toward the smell of good food. Soul Society food was so much better than Las Noches's had been. There was a little shop set on the side of the road. Only certain normal souls were given access passes to the Court of Pure Souls and that was normally shop keepers. He enters the little shop and through all of the other scents, he recognizes his favorite of the Japanese cuisine there, Tempura Domburi. He checks his money, and sits down to order. In walks that one redheaded friend of Ichigo's. Renji or something like that. Following closely behind him was the girl he'd shoved his hand through. Rukia if he remembered right. They look around for a seat and end up walking over to the table in front of his. Rukia notices him first, and after only a moments hesitation flops into the booth seat in front of his. Renji slides in next to her a scowl on his face. The oblivious noble obviously didn't get that Renji had been asking her on a date. He stopped himself from laughing and glared at Rukia. "Did I invite you to sit with me?" he said rudely. He glanced at Renji who'd begun to puff up to her defense. He calmed immediately getting where Grimm had been going.

"You didn't have to. As a hybrid you should be honored that nobility would sit with you," she said with a grin. It was a joke, Grimm could tell. Grimmjow pulled up his most annoyed scowl.

"I'm not in the mood for you Rukia, if your not careful I might pull that stomach trick again. Would you like to remind me how that went?" he asks. He made sure that he didn't look to serious so it wouldn't be taken as a threat.

"Poor kitty, what put you in a bad mood?" Rukia asks. Grimm scowls. Renji just shrugs as if to say no need to try. Grimm's food arrives and they order. He doesn't feel bad about digging in.

"Aren't you on a date or something?" he mutters. Renji's face reddens and Rukia just laughs. And laughs. And laughs. When she was to the point of tears, she slaps Renji's arm asking him if he thought the joke was funny too. Renji just looked miserable the minute she looked away. Not wanting to deal with Rukia's banter and Renji's kicked puppy behavior, Grimm pays and leaves.

Bored again, he wanders away from the shop and eventually winds up relaxing on a rooftop. At some point, he must have fallen asleep, cause next thing he knows, a haughty voice was above him making jokes.

"Sunning yourself while taking a nap Grimm-_kitty_?" asks that voice. Grimm ignores it at first enjoying the warmth. But he wasn't one to pass up the opportunity. After all, the Bee had sought him out for once.

"What's the matter need my sexy body around to get your work done?" he asks. She scoffs. She grabs his arm just as he was opening his eyes and shunpos them away. They stood in a wooded area moments later.

"Lets make this quick I have work to do and need to destress," she says. Before Grimm can make a comment about how he didn't find the woods a comfortable place to fuck but he didn't mind, she was slashing at him with her sword. He steps away in a buzz of sonido, coming back at her with Pantera. It was back and forth like that for a moment, neither taking the other seriously at first. Until Soi disappeared for a moment and the next thing Grimm knows, there's a homonka on his chest. She taunts him. Both were working to suppress the reiatsu as Grimms release followed hers. No one needed to know they were sparring all out. They'd just try to stop them. Pausing the battle, Soi casts a kido spell that would help, and they get back to fighting. Both were landing good hits, bruised and bloody. Finally, someone seems to notice their battle and make their way towards them. It was the Lieutenant of 1st. They sheath their swords and lower their reiatsu further and when the man finally approaches, Soi and Grimm are waiting.

"What's going on here?" he asks. Grimmjow didn't know what to say. It looked bad. A hybrid battling full out with a Captain? It looked like he'd done something treasonous. Especially with it being Soi Fon he fought. But the Stealth Squad Captain stepped forward.

"We agreed to assimilate the hybrids, and I have a Lieutenants position to fill. I was... interviewing him for the position, for when the time comes," she says mildly. Grimmjow was shocked. He knew that her Lieutenants position was open, but not that she'd been considering him. Sasakibe regarded them for a moment and left. Grimmjow started to ask her about that, but she stopped him. "I lied, that position will stay open to remind me of my failures," she told him, before starting to walk away.

"You can't hold yourself responsible. Barragon was a tough opponent and he had a scary release," Grimm said. Soi stiffened, and looked over her shoulder.

"Shut up and never talk to me about that again kitty," she said, disappearing.

_**A little bit longer than usual which is wonderful considering how hard of a time I was having write this. I was inspired by my review of course, but inspiration doesn't always help with writer's block. And i'm blocked bad. I know where I want to story to go but I have to get it to the point of getting there. And a hint, something about the major plot of this story was in this chapter and kudos to anyone who can guess what part of the story exactly was the hint to the plot. My shout out goes to Chitsukee, thanks for reviewing. Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Read and give a review for another chapter thanks bunches!**_


	5. Karakura

_**Hello all! Got a review the morning after I posted the last chapter which makes me super happy! So for this next chapter, I'm going to take a peek back at Karakura town. So in case you don't realize, I am trying to get the beginnings of all of my character pairings in before I start the major plot, because that's where a lot of the drama and such are going to come from. That's the only hint I'm giving this chapter lol. So before you really see any action, expect a lot of fluff and a bunch of pairings. Cause I need it that way. And another thanks to Chitsukee for yet another review. Thank you bunches! OK rant over onto the chapter. **_

Chapter 5...Karakura.

Ichigo leaned his head on his desk and sighed. Life was so boring around here lately. 13th had replaced Afro-san with a soul reaper that actually knew what they were doing and unfortunately for him, it wasn't Rukia. It wasn't that he _liked_ her, it was that she at least knew how to make classes and home life interesting. And he didn't even have hollow runs to do anymore because of the new soul reaper. He glances around his classroom.

On the far right of the classroom was Tatsuki's desk. The girl was leaning her head on her hand and looking just as miserable as he was. She'd been like that since the decision to keep Orihime in Soul Society. Ichigo still couldn't get over the fact that his spiritual pressure had made all of his friends spiritually aware as well. As if sensing his gaze on her, Tatsuki glared at him. She blamed him for Orihime's absence. It didn't matter how many times he'd tried to explain that it wasn't his fault she'd cast her lot in with the enemy and turned them good. Ichigo moves his gaze.

Chad was sitting just a few seats away from him idly watching the teacher. But Ichigo knew that he wasn't really paying attention. Sure the whole gang still got good grades, but there was always going to be something different, something they all shared. None of them felt they could really be going on with their lives this way after all of the battle and bloodshed they'd seen. Especially Chad who, in Las Noches, had discovered that his ability was more like that of a hollow. And he didn't really feel comfortable using it much anymore. Ichigo couldn't even get Chad to practice with him in Urahara's training room. Chad's eyes slid over to meet his questioningly.

Ichigo's gaze moved over to Uryu's empty seat. It was highly unusual, they'd all been attending every class since the new Soul Reaper. That meant it had to be something with his dad or his Quincy training that kept Uryu from being there. Ichigo decided to drop by Uryu's house after school and see what was up.

* * *

Uryu dodged another arrow. He wished he hadn't asked his father to teach him more about being a Quincy. More attacks and things like that. But every time he felt like telling his dad that enough was enough, that feeling came back. Out of all of his friends, not that he would ever call them that to his dad, he didn't understand why he had to have the strongest feeling of when something bad was going to happen. But that feeling had started in his stomach when he woke up that morning and it drove him into this rigorous and honestly pointless training. His father wasn't teaching him a thing, just outright attacking him.

As he dodged attack after attack, his mind drifted off to the time after rescuing Rukia when he no longer had his powers. How empty he'd felt. And then, that one strange girl whose Captain had nearly sacrificed her to defeat him showed up, bringing his salvation. Some strange device that had given his powers back.

That bad feeling in his gut intensified when he thought of the people in Soul Society. He flinched, remembering Orihime was in Soul Society. More determined than ever to get stronger for when the time came, he set into the training with his father.

* * *

Ichigo knocked on the door to the Ishida residence. Uryu's father opened the door, and he sneered at Ichigo. "What is you need Soul Reaper?" he asked Ichigo. Ichigo stopped himself from getting angry. Of all the times he usually failed at that task, he knew that getting angry at Uryu's father wouldn't get Uryu outside to explain any faster.

"I"m here to see Uryu, I brought his missed assignments from school," Ichigo said. He was glad he'd had the foresight to retrieve them from the office. Uryu's father sighed, shutting the door. Moments later, a battered Uryu opened the door. "Here," Ichigo said, handing Uryu the stack of papers. "What kept you from school today?" he asked, even though it was obvious.

"A bad feeling. You might try to get Chad to train with you," Uryu said. In other words, you might want to train but I don't feel like you yelling at me about how you aren't weak. Ichigo nodded. He'd learned to trust his friends when they had bad feelings. They all had.

"Yea, I'll go talk to him about that. Catch up on your homework, wouldn't want to take your place as the smartest guy in school," Ichigo joked, stepping away. Uryu nodded and went back inside. Ichigo left walking all the way to Chad's to give himself time to think about how he was going to convince him to train again. He eventually decided to just lay it all out on the table about Uryu's bad feeling, and how they never knew who was getting attacked when that happened and that they needed to remember that Orihime was in Soul Society now and they needed to be able to protect her if something where to happen over there. So when Chad opened the door, that's exactly what Ichigo said.

Chad nodded at Ichigo, walking outside and shutting his door, "Yea," he said. Of course, Ichigo hadn't expected a speech or anything, but 'yea' didn't exactly tell Ichigo whether or not Chad was coming to Urahara's with him. But Ichigo followed Chad, and they did wind up heading in that direction.

* * *

Urahara and Yoroichi had been laughing about something when they heard a knock on the door. Tessai led in Ichigo and Chad. The two looked quizically at the shopkeeper and the woman beside him. "Yoroichi was just telling me the most hilarious thing about your old friend Grimmjow and her old friend Soi Fon," Urahara explained. When Ichigo's eyes narrowed at the 'old friend Grimmjow' part. Urahara continued. "They have this sort of on going battle with each other. Yoroichi was in Soul Society yesterday, and Lieutenant Sasakibe had to go break up one of their fights. It just entertains me because I can just imagine how much effort Grimmjow must be putting into this in order to anger her that much that she'd release her zanpakuto." Urahara finishes. A smile flitted across Ichigo's features.

"Was she winning?" Ichigo asks. Yoroichi howls with laughter. Ichigo turns to her and glares. "What's so funny about me asking you that?" he asks.

"You'd like that wouldn't you?" she asks still laughing. "Because then Grimmjow wouldn't attack you next time you go over there to visit Orihime like he did last time. Then you'd only have to worry about Kenpachi," she said, finally calming down. Ichigo rolled his eyes, and walked behind their table, flipping it over and knocking over their cups in the process. He opens the trap door and drops down, Chad following wordlessly. Urahara sets his table back up away from the trap door and him and Yoroichi look at each other seriously for the first time that night.

"You have that feeling too don't you?" Urahara asks Yoroichi, who nods solemnly. The two stand, and make their way to Urahara's lab room, where they use the three moniters there to try to see if they could find anything wrong in the worlds. All was shockingly calm. And normal. And that just made them twice as uneasy.

* * *

Orihime went into her office the next morning, an hour or so late. She'd slept through her alarm and was frantically running. She dashed in stopping before Ulquiorra and bowing. "I'm so sorry I'm late Ulquiorra-san!" she exclaims, launching into a story about how her alarm didn't wake her and how she'd been having this great dream about being a giant and stomping through the streets of Tokyo and people calling her Godzilla and how she agreed not to destroy anything else so long as they fed her giant loafs of bread smothered in red bean paste and gave her tomato juice with sugar and chocolate to drink. Ulquiorra paused in his paperwork while she ranted, just watching her as she seemed so excited about her dream. It had been a while since she'd been herself. He should shut her alarm off more often. He voiced that very opinion and her face went scarlet. "You...you shut it off?" she asks shocked. Not knowing what to say for once after thanking him, she walked to her desk. "Uwahhh!" she exclaims, staring at the stack of paperwork she had on her desk. "I really wanted to oversee training today too," she said pouting. Dutifully, she sat down working on the stack.

It was about an hour or so later that Ulquiorra grew tired of hearing her reading over the papers aloud quietly to herself. Normally it didn't bother him, but he hadn't had much rest that night. He'd tossed and turned, and when he had fell asleep he'd dreamt of that battle with Ichigo when Orihime healed him. He'd awoken that morning feeling jumpy. "Go oversee training, I will finish your work, it will just be awaiting your signatures." he said simply. He'd rather do her work than deal with other sounds in the room at this point. Or other people for that matter, not that he usually minded her presence.

Orihime leapt from her chair face shining with happiness. She carried her stack over to Ulquiorra's desk and set them on the corner before leaning over to hug him. "Thank you Ulquiorra-san!" she said excitedly, before kissing him on the cheek and dashing from the room. Ulquiorra sat shocked before tucking that away in his brain for later. He had double the load to do for his peace.

* * *

Orihime ran all the way to their outdoor training area before realizing what she'd done. She gasped, but none of her squad looked at her. They were used to this behavior from her. She was immediately embarrassed about what she'd done, but had to put that out of her head. Grimmjow was looking at her with a questioning look, wondering what she was doing there. She just waved, sitting down in the stands and quietly watching her lower squad members go through the basic formations that Grimmjow had been subjected to learning so he could teach them. Orihime smiled at her hybrids and even called out to several telling them what wonderful jobs they were doing.

_**Yay I got a whole chapter done in a day. I love having time to myself to write! Hopefully this happens more often for you guys. Hope you enjoyed this chapter. And thanks again to Chitsukee! Now I'm off to go write on another story that someone reviewed on. I feel like my stories are being loved again! Yay!**_


	6. The Hybrids

_**Yay! I'm so glad I feel like my newest story is finally hitting it off and that makes me so unbelievably happy! I'd have started another chapter yesterday when my latest reviewer reviewed but I had another person review a different story and I must update in order. So, thank you Albinos, the anonymous reviewer, and thanks to you, another chapter! Again I want to let you know that these first few chapters will be multiple starts of my personal ships and such, so expect fluff before content, and moments of fluff throughtout. Enjoy!**_

Chapter 6...The Hybrids

Tia steps out of her quarters and is immediately surrounded by her former fraccion. They begin to talk about how their morning had gone already and arguing about who had the worst bed head, and the worst was never the one talking. And of course, there was Sun Sun stating that she merely woke up in perfect condition every morning. It was the usual for her friends. They walk to the dining hall and grab some food. Once they've eaten, they go their seperate ways to do their tasks. It was, unfortunately, the final day they had before Mila Rose and Sun Sun went off to do stationary tasks in the physical world. Orihime had assured Tia that she would rotate them out after a bit. She didn't want anyone away for too long at first. Tia does her chores, which was something she'd been told was necessary when they'd made the move. Instead of having useless shinigami that cleaned (although she'd heard that 4th was pretty much that very squad) the Shinigami all had chores of cleaning. It made sense not to have useless soldiers though. Once she'd finished, she goes to Sun Sun's area of cleaning, and helps her out. Together they go to Mila Rose, and finally to Apache. After their chores were done, they had a 3 hour period where they could eat, train individually, or just socialize. They chose to do the latter.

Sun Sun leads them to nearest fountain. It was one of the few decorative aspects of the Seireitei that were consistent. Tia listens quietly while her friends chatted and argued. Finally, when she can stand no more of their bickering, she stopped them. "This is no way to be behaving. We are about to part ways and you three can't even manage to have a civil last day?" she asks. The three look ashamed. Tia's face softens, though you can't really tell with her mask. Taking a deep breath, Tia waves a hand over her mask, focusing her reiatsu to the point of partial transformation. Her mask melts down to be hidden by her clothing. The girls stare at her. It was an unnecessary waste of her energy, but she wanted to feel like they could see how sad she really was to see the two leave.

"Sorry," Sun sun mutters, always the first to try to get out of trouble. Tia nods, and the other two follow suit. They all fall silent for a few more minutes. Apache then makes a remark about how jealous she was that she didn't get to go to, and that was it for the girls. The three scoot together and hug. For all the fights they get into, they were close friends afterall.

"Its not for long," Tia begins, "Captain has assured me that in perhaps a month or two, you two will be rotated back to the Seireitei. Hopefully by then, Apache is ready for her first rotation. It is important to do well. This is our second chance after..." she stopped, but no one needed to fill in the blank. They'd received a second chance at life after all of the things they'd done under Aizen's rule, and no matter what, they needed to do well. Only then would the live to stay friends.

"What are we going to do when 14th disbands and we're assimilated into the other divisions?" Mila asks. Tia gives her a sad smile.

"We find time to see each other," Apache says firmly. "By then we will be allowed to request days off, and we should in order to see each other." Tia smiles at her former subordinates and they all pause then grin as well. It was nice to finally see the smiles that Tia gave them on occasion. They all hug, and then separate to go do their evening tasks and training sessions with their groups. Tia allows her mask to settle back over her face.

Stark was in his bedroom sleeping the day away. He'd gotten up at the crack of dawn when the sun was still low enough that doing his tasks was unbearable. After, he had returned to bed. He'd wake up again at evening bell and do his evening tasks. That was the plan anyways, until a soft knock started to rouse him. He groaned and buried his face in his pillows. The door slammed open like he knew it would and in stormed Lilinette. She leapt up onto the bed and kneed him in the stomach, also as he knew she would. Stark wiped the sleep from his eyes and sat up. "What do you want," he groans. Lilinette smacks the top of his head.

"Just how much have you missed while you were asleep?! I figured you would wake up earlier and go see if Tia was going to be alright without Mila Rose and Sun Sun!" Lilinette explained. Stark's eyes widened.

"What happened?" he asks. Lilinette rolls her eyes, explaining the situation. Stark stands, stretching and cracking all of his joints as a way to wake up further. He motions for Lili to follow him as he leaves his room and searches out Tia's reiatsu. When they reach her, Stark smiles back at the smile he sees in her eyes. He noticed the strain in her eyes and deduced she must have moved her mask in order to enjoy the last planned moment she'd had with her friends. He would have done it too if her were in her place, with a mask like hers and Lili leaving. He waves Lili off and the two sit down to have a conversation.

Lilinette wondered around Soul Society. She knew Stark needed some time with Tia, the two never really hung out anymore. So she planned to be gone for a while. But she didn't know what to do. She remembered something Orihime had said a while ago, about how they should really think about what Squad they wanted to go to when it was all said and 14th disbanded. Because you wanted to get to know your future squad and all of that. So Lilinette glanced in at training areas of the other Squads to try to find one she liked. 13th was too buddy buddy for her. 12th wasn't even training really, just messing with equipment and lap materials. 11th was just too scary of a prospect for her, all of the men were twice her size. 10th was way too strict for her and Stark. She paused at 9th, catching a glimpse of a tall man with dark hair training with the others of the squad. She was almost shocked to see a Lieutenant's badge on his arm. Ulquiorra never trained with them. The man looked up, sensing her gaze, and stepped towards her. Lilinette almost bolted, embarrassed, but she'd decided she'd like to be part of a squad where everyone trained together as equals. She meets the man halfway.

"My name is Lilinette Gingerbark, I'm the former fraccion of Coyote Stark, and I have no release state of my own, but Captain Inoue said that we should think about what squad we would want to go to when 14th disbanded, and this is the first one I've found that I might like" she said introducing herself, she then smiled up at him. The man smiled back down at her and gave a short laugh.

"You're forward aren't you?" he says, causing Lili's face to burn with embarrassment. "My name is Shuuhei Hisagi, Lieutenant of 9th, below someone you used to work for. Kaname Tosen, and it would probably be my pleasure to have you and Stark here," he said. Lilinette held her smile, though it pricked at her the Tosen comment. But she paused when she saw a bit of bitterness in Shuuhei's eyes. Tosen's betrayal had hurt him. Lili tapped her foot nervously, not knowing what to say then. Hisagi had practically said that he'd consider them for his squad, so what next? "I'm taking a break, would you care to join me for lunch and we can talk about you and Stark's abilities? My squad is in need of a Captain after all," he said.

"Sure!" Lilinette agreed. Shuuhei walked them to a restraunt that was still in his division's boundaries, and they sat down. The two began to talk about strengths and weaknesses about the former Primero duo. "Starks really lazy, I don't know if you want him as a Captain." she admits. Shuuhei laughs.

"I can help him with the paperwork. As long as he will be at least reliable and in one place when I need him to be I don't mind." Shuuhei says. Lilinette laughs and agrees.

"I'll keep him line Lieutenant Hisagi," she says. The two continue their conversations.

Nnoitra was looking at Tesla who had made him pause in doing the stupid ass chores they had to do. While he usually wouldn't care for the interruption, today it just pissed him off. It was really fucking hot outside and he wanted to be done so he could rest in the air conditioning in his room. Tesla told him that he was leaving for the physical world the next day and had just wanted to say goodbye before he left. "Like I would fucking care, go do what you're supposed to do and come back." Tesla's eyes brightened at the words of the man he idolized. Not in a creepy way, but in an I-want-to-be-like-him way. And to Tesla, 'come back' was just like 'be careful'. And maybe it was to Nnoitra, who just couldn't stand to ever even appear to be going soft. Tesla left, leaving Nnoitra to finish his tasks.

It was an hour or so later that Nnoitra was walking the halls. He heard a humming and his eyes narrowed. At the end of the hallway was Nelliel, his biggest rival. He stands where he was as Nel walks up to him. She nods at him meaning to pass him by, but Nnoitra slammed a long arm out to the wall on the other side. Nel (in her adult form permanently now) paused, eyeing him. "What you weren't going to say fucking hello?" he asks her. Nel's eyes narrow.

"Hello," she says. She watches as Nnoitra's eyes roam over her and her white outfit before meeting her gaze. His hand drops from the wall and he steps into his room.

Nel sat in her room later that evening, analyzing the interaction she'd had with Nnoitra earlier. It was something that had been happening more and more often lately. Usually he would just ignore her, but the eye roaming... it was recent. Maybe their rivalry had more to do with the man just being to tough and plain out creepy to admit he had feelings for her. Nel burst out laughing at the thought, simply because it seemed absurd. But deep down, maybe she wished a little that it wasn't such a ridiculous idea. Not because she liked him, if anyone asked, she would deny that, but because it would mean he wasn't as evil as she thought he was.

_'Just keep telling yourself that,' _ Gamuta told her.

Lilinette and Stark sat in his room. She'd just finished telling him about her conversation with Shuuhei. Stark hadn't been thrilled that she'd gone without him, but it had saved him a trip. He didn't really care either way if he took Tosen's spot as 9th Captain or not. What he did care was that Lili might end up sent into battle without him one day. And with little skill with a sword and a cero that was immature and weaker than a menos, her safety was his major concern. "Tomorrow in our free time we can go talk to Hisagi about it," Lili assured him. Stark shrugged his shoulders and laid back on his bed, a sign for Lili to leave for the night.

_**Woohoo! Another slightly-longer chapter than usual! So I pulled in a few more of my pairings for this chapter! So in a brief rundown of the ones I have that may or not be sort of obvious at this point but now you know to look for! GrimmSoi, UnoKenpachi, RenRukia, TiaStark, NelNnoitra, yes UlquiHime, and finally LiliHisagi. More to come however! The plot of this story actually comes out better the more pairings I have so that's why I have so many. Plus, it keeps me interested with having all sorts of different things to write about! Ok, so review for more as always! **_

_**Albinos: Yes I did hint Ulquihime at the end of last chapter lol. The hint I was talking about was actually something about the major conflict of the story, but i'm not worried if no one guesses it. It was a tiny hint hidden in daily monotony. But anyways! Hope you enjoyed the latest chapter. **_


	7. Sweet Sake

_**Woohoo! Another reviewe from Albinos and my story just keeps rolling along. So I'm to the point of my pairings where I just don't know how I'm gonna get some of these people together. Two of them I can't start until the plot goes and the other three...well...it'll be fun. Anyways, onward with the first attempt, and maybe if I work it in, a little furthering of some of the ones I've started. Onward march!**_

Chapter 7... Sweet Sake

Kyouraku sat on a not so quiet rooftop, a large jug of sake and a cup sitting beside him. He'd barely begun to drink for the evening but he wasn't going to let the woman beside him know that. It would ruin his drunken reputation. "Come on Nanao! Just take a drink it won't kill you!" he says, swaying a little.

"Absolutely not! Someone has to be responsible for this division and because you won't it falls on me!" She exclaims. She flops down to sit beside him though, and opens the book where she'd kept careful track of everything to do with the division. She fiddled with facts and figures in it for a moment, while Kyouraku thought.

"At least let your hair down Nanao, it has to hurt your head keeping it tied up like that all the time," he said, reaching over and deftly unknotting and letting her hair fall. Nanao looked over at him shocked as black locks of hair fell around her shoulders. She blushed and immediately her hands reached up to fix her hair. She started muttering things about drunken perverts and how men don't know how to respect boundaries. Kyouraku laughed, "Nanao, you're a riot." he said, laying back. He tilted his hat down over his eyes.

"You ought to be more serious, Captain." she says. Kyouraku lifts his hat to look at her questioningly. "I have this feeling...like all our hard work a few months ago means nothing anymore. Like it's a calm before a storm. A new storm. After so long of peace, are we never going to have that again?" she murmurs. Kyouraku sits up.

"Maybe you ought to lighten up," Kyouraku says. He throws his arm around her shoulders, causing her blush to come back. "Look, if this bad feeling turns out to be something...I want you to be careful Nanao. I know you're strong...you're my Lieutenant afterall, but I don't want to lose you." he said.

"Captain..." Nanao whispers, glancing at him. Hesistantly, she reaches for the cup he'd set down between them. She pours herself a small amount, and tips the cup to her lip. When she'd finished the drink, she lays back as well.

"Oh Captain Ichimaru!" a drunken voice calls through the corridor. After a lot of questions and a probationary period, Ichimaru had been reinstated as 3rd Captain. Rangiku vouched that she'd witnessed the battle with Aizen and that he'd stated he'd been in it to kill him for a very long time. Of course, one major slip up and he would be executed for treason. So Gin had been on his...almost best behavior.

Gin's office door slid open to reveal Rangiku Matsumoto carrying 4 jugs of sake. Gin smiled. Once a week Rangiku stopped by his office. The two had never really discussed the day of the battle with each other. Over the time when Gin was dying. Gin had started to bring it up, but Rangiku had walked away. She said she didn't want to ruin their friendship by making things awkward.

Kira slid his chair over to Gin's desk to sit it by the chair Rangiku sat in. "Now now Izuru are ya tellin me ya been drinkin on the job while I was away?" Gin asks. Kira's eyes widen and he almost shakes his head. But instead he drops his head and nods. Gin bursts out laughing and pours Kira a cup, while Rangiku opts for a bottle. Together, the three drink.

It was later in the evening, when Rangiku was too drunk to walk back to 10th alone, that Gin decided to ambush her. "Rangiku-san," he begins, supporting her by an arm around her waste. She gives him a drunken reply. "Rangiku, we can't ignore wha happened forever. Ya cried fer me. Ya acted like it was goin ta be the worst thing in the world if I died. Ya can' act like ya don' care fer me Rangiku. I know it's a lie." He says. Rangiku, suddenly sober, steps away from him.

"And you can't act like I've never been nothing more than some kind of plaything for you." she replies, trying to stand strong when Gin can see the tears beginning to form in her eyes. So that was why she didn't want to talk about it. Because she thought she meant nothing to him for all of those years.

"Rangiku-san. I can' believe tha for all those years, ya thought tha ya weren't important. Ya know...I lied ta Aizen so he wouldn' go back for ya. I told him I killed ya so he'd leave ya alone. I've protected ya from him for all tha time while ya were becomin a shinigami and til tha battle and ya still don' believe me. Ya think Aizen woulda let me keep somethin precious? No, he wanted me miserable so I'd follow him like Izuru-san follows me. He wanted someone broken, but I always had ya. I was never broken by tha man." Gin replies, opening his eyes up a bit. Rangiku looked like she didn't believe him. "I had ta pretend ya weren' nothin ta me. Had to pretend Izuru-san wasn' like a brother ta me. Had to pretend tha you two weren' my most precious things so I could keep ya. And ya can' believe me cause I did to good of a job actin," he said. He turned away from her then, and took a step away. He couldn't fight what Rangiku believed. He'd done too much damage for too long. Until he felt the soft skin of Rangiku's hand as it clutched his own.

"I just don't want you to disappear again. You always disappear the minute I start feeling close to you," she said, tears running down her face. Gin frowns, remembering all of the times he left her in the dust. Like the day he became a Soul Reaper in order to protect her. His Rangiku. Gin pulled Rangiku into his chest to hug her.

"Its goin ta be ok Rangiku. I'm gonna protect ya from now on. I'm not goin anywhere ever again." he tells her before tilting her chin to make her look at him. "I promise." he tells her, before brushing his lips gently against hers.

Soi Fon had received a letter to go before the Head Captain. A 'Request for her presence'. So she went. And was unsurprised to find it was about her no holds barred battle with Grimmjow the other day. She was berrated for over a half hour for foolishness, then finally asked to explain. "First and foremost, I would never do something traitorous, if that is what you are assuming. Secondly, we were told the day that the hybrids arrived that we were to treat them with caution, yes, but also to treat them as any other Shinigami, at the request of their Queen. A Queen, who, as far as any of us know, cares nothing but for the safety of all of her friends, which includes many of us. Thirdly, we were told that many ofj these arrancar would be filling the voided positions as no Shinigami here is truly at the level to do so, and my battle was a test. To prove he was worthy as my Lieutenant. And finally, after such a long period of war, I think all of us need to let go of the tensions for just a moment and learn what it is to live again. To have a little fun every now and then. That is all of the explanation I can provide." she said.

"Then I take it you are willing to be the first to except a hybrid in your ranks?" Yamamoto asks. Soi Fon prevented herself from tensing up. It wasn't what she wanted, but her actions had to result in a consequence. And the premature filling of Omeada's position was not a bad consequence.

"Yes, I am fully prepared to bring Grimmjow Jeagerjacks as my Lieutenant and for him to prove as the test of the possibility of assimilating the other arrancar into our ranks." Soi Fon said. That being said there was only a few more details to work out and she was handed transfer papers to hand deliver to Orihime when she left. After delivering the paper, she planned to clean out Omeada's office space and quarters.

Orihime glanced at Ulquiorra again. He acted just like normal. Like her kiss on the cheek hadn't effected him. But did she really think it would have? She sighed. Of course she had. Because even back at Las Noches she'd felt like she'd affected him in some way. And now, he was still his old, clammed up, unemotional self. She shook her head and went back to her paperwork. Without even a whisper of movement, another paper appeared on her desk. Shockingly, it was a transfer. Her gaze ran up the thin arm to the short 2nd Captain's face. She read over the paper, and was stunned. "Ulquiorra-san...go fetch me Grimmjow-san," she said. Ulquiorra left without a word. "Why now?" she asked. "We've only just started out missions."

"Because Jeagerjacks and I did something foolish. And this is the punishment. You do know this is punishment don't you? Because as the first to transfer, there will be tons of problems. Particularly with the response of my squad. Jeagerjacks will have to be strong and prove himself time and again. If he doesn't succeed in making this work, then 14th will be disbanded. All the way back to Las Noches. There is a lot at stake, riding on one unreliable man." she said.

"Who you calling unreliable Killer Bee?" the very man they were discussing said as he rolled in, followed by Ulquiorra. Soi Fon refused to look at him. Orihime explained the situation, and what was at stake.

"You can refuse Grimmjow-san, if you don't want to. Its understandable if you don't want all of that pressure on you. But if you do accept, then you know all of us here in 14th are backing you and supporting you. If you'd need help with anything we would do our best." Orihime said. By way of answer, Grimmjow snatched the paper from Orihime's desk, took it to Ulquiorra's and signed it. He handed it back to Orihime.

"I can handle it Captain, and I'm not going to need any of your help. And as for you Bee, I can be responsible. I will do good, and I will convince your squad and the Captain-Commander that the hybrids can assimilate," he said. Soi Fon nearly smiled at him.

"Pack your belongings Kitty," she said, taking the now signed paper off of Orihime's desk, and flashing away. Orihime glanced up at Grimmjow and saw the grin on his face, and the look in his eyes. It was that look he got when he was enjoying himself. It was a happy face, that made Orihime feel that even though she was without all of her friends from Karakura, that she was just as happy and at home as long as her hybrids were there. Grimmjow's decision made her feel proud, like she had done something right by bringing them here. Grimmjow left Orihime's office.

Orihime stood, and walked over to stand by Ulquiorra. Looking up at him with a blush beginning to grace her features, she asked him, "Would you like to go get something to eat? It's my treat!" she said. Ulquiorra's face took on his personal brand of a thoughtful expression.

"Isn't the man supposed to pay? In your culture that is." he asked her, genuinely curious. Orihime grew flustered, and became very interested in grinding the toe of her sandal into the carpet.

"Well yes Ulquiorra-san, but only if they are dating. We're just friends, so its fine if I pay," she said. Again, there was that thoughtful expression.

"Nonetheless, I will pay for our lunch," Ulquiorra said.

_**OK! I think that's good for now! So make sure to tell me what you think of it. **_

_**Albinos: Sorry it took me two days after your review to update, but I just don't have the energy or imagination to update on days I work to update, and I was away from my computer all day today, but I got it up and that's what is important. And I really hope that once the plot begins that you will enjoy it. This is the first story I've ever written where I don't bring in my own character/s and I'm loving the challenge, but even more so, I'm just really excited about this plotline because I don't think its one that has been used too much in this mangas fanfiction fandom. Not that I've read that is. So I'm really hoping it turns out ok. Anyways my excitement is the reason I just can't stop talking about it. This story just makes me feel happy to write lol. Hope you enjoyed!**_


	8. Little Bit of Everything

_**Ok sorry this is taking so long! I'm truly sorry I just couldn't think of what to do next! I'll try to get as much as I can written to make up for the wait Chitsukee and hopefully a long chapter will help. I'm going to try to give everyone a place in this chapter! As always RnR!**_

Chapter 8...Little Bit of Everything.

Unohana went into the room set up for Kato the girl from 6th. The girl's fever had increased over the night she'd been kept and it hadn't gone down in over a week. It was a strange illness, one that none of the medicines she tried helped. It wasn't like she could just heal it away with kido. Not something like a common illness. She was glad Shinigami didn't get sick very often. It would make her feel useless and she'd probably end up going back to how she used to be. She gave the girl her usual slew of fever reducers and cough suppressants, the only thing helping the poor girl. Then she left. She wrote a letter to 12th, requesting Kurotsuchi to come up with a better formula of medication, and sent it out. She leaned her head into her hands, sighing. She shuts her eyes, trying to think of how to help the poor girl. Suddenly, her door flies open. It had been a more common occurance for the 11th Captain to storm in, now that Ikkaku's bankai had been revealed. Especially this week. She'd seen that Ikkaku had been admitted for severe injuries that morning so she shouldn't have been surprised that Kenpachi would show up. But strangely she was. She stood, then saw his blood soaked clothing. Kenpachi's Lieutenant leapt over his shoulder and rushed over to Unohana. "Kenny said he was dizzy to I made him come. I'm going to go back to the squad now, just patch him up and send him home ok?" the little pink haired girl said sweetly.

"Of course Yachiru," Unohana replied. She immediately made him sit once the pinkette had left. She checked his wounds and began the healing. She called out the door for orange juice, steak, and a slice of whatever cake the division was serving that day to be sent to her office. Kenpachi just looked bored as Unohana's healing hands drifted over his chest and back. The food arrives and the 4th Captain demands that he eat it all. So that the sugars and proteins would build up more blood cells. She wasn't worried about life threatening blood loss, if it had been that bad she would have had to go to him. Still, she had made sure his wounds had closed up thoroughly. He'd rip them open the next day if she hadn't. Drained, she dropped into her chair. "I know you don't want to hear it, but you need to take it easy. Your body isn't able to keep up with the blood loss. If necessary, take a day away from the division." she said. Kenpachi scoffed.

"What would I do if I wasn't fighting?" he asked. Unohana smiled kindly. She remembered the time when she'd shared the same thought.

"Take Yachiru out to where you found her. I'm sure she'd like to be reminded about how she met you. Its been so long for both of you. Since either of you went back to where you came from. Don't tell me anything about sentimental crap. Just do it. It will be good for you." Kenpachi stood, towering over her by almost a foot. He examined her expression, and something changed just slightly in his. He left quickly after. Sadly, Unohana realized he may soon remember her. And that would be the end for one for one of them.

* * *

Soi Fon stared down at the paperwork on her desk. There was a letter of complaint from her 7th seat. He disliked that she'd allowed a hybrid among them, a former Espada especially. The letter wasn't the only trouble she'd had in the past week. Some of the lower ranked members had blatantly disregarded everything to do with Grimmjow. To be honest, it was time to step in, but for all of the disrespect, taunts and name-calling being done, Grimmjow was holding up well. Crumpling the letter in her hand, she walks to the training grounds where she had Grimmjow running the drills for the day, covering for her ill 3rd seat.

She hears a commotion, some yelling and the telltale sound of a weapon being drawn. Not uncommon for drills training, but it made her quicken her pace. She arrives just in time to see one of her squad (the 7th seat whose letter she still held) swinging at the new Lieutenant. She flashes over, latching onto the 7th's arm just as Grimmjow had. Releasing her grip, she holds up the letter for all to see. "I don't believe any of you have been trained to behave this way. Perhaps I should just cast out the lot of you and start all over with my squad. None of you act like you belong here anyways. What are you children? Jeagerjacks is a part of the squad now. A Lieutenant. And you will do well to listen to and obey his orders. Next whiner will receive a transfer notice. That's all." she says. She steps away from the group of training Shinigami and flashes into a tree to continue observing. After a while when there is a break in the drills, Grimmjow joins her. She scowls at him.

"I can handle whatever they throw at me Bee," he tells her. "But thanks for your concern." Grimmjow throws her one of his signature grins and Soi Fon narrows her eyes.

"My concern is not for you but for the disobedience of my squad. I do not allow my division to behave in this manner and they will surely regret it if they continue," she replies. Grimmjow laughs at her and drapes an arm over her shoulder which Soi Fon immediately flings off. "You'd do well to do the same Lieutenant. I don't except unruly behavior from my Lieutenant either. Or sexual harassment." with that said, Soi Fon drops from the tree and walks back to her office.

* * *

Kyouraku was in his bed sleeping off a hangover. It was a good one. He'd woken at daylight and had to cover the window quickly before the light gave him a migraine. Then he'd crawled under the covers and gone back to sleep. But some crazy persistent person was banging on the door...banging on the inside of his head, and urging him to 'open the door' and 'come be a captain for once'. With a sigh, Kyouraku tells the person to come in. The person being his uptight Lieutenant. Groaning in disdain, Nanao walks over to his bedside and begins to shake him. "Wake up Captain! I don't care how drunk you got last night that is no excuse to sleep all day!" she says in his ear. Kyouraku groans and flips an arm over Nanao, rolling and effectively shutting her up and he pulled her into bed beside him.

"Be quiet Nanao, my head hurts," he tells her, at the same time, he smiles. Her face reddens and she begins sputtering.

"But Captain we have lots of work today and no matter what I'm not doing your paperwork again so you _must_ come to the office!" Nanao says, hoping to get him to let go of her. Kyouraku shakes his head slightly and grips her with both arms. She begins to push and shove trying to get away. "Captain this is indecent!"

"Nah but I like holding you Nanao!" Kyouraku scolds. "And haven't you heard of a day off? Something both of us were supposed to have a long time ago? Too bad for you we are taking one now, the 3rd seat can handle it for the day. You go tell him that, and that's an order Nanao. Then you come back here and we will talk about what we are going to do with our free time," he says. Nanao glares at him but leaves the room to carry out his orders. Grinning happily for getting rid of Nanao's nagging for the moment, he returns to sleep.

* * *

Rangiku sat at her desk sighing loudly. Captain Hitsuguya was just sitting there watching her. Making sure she did her paperwork. Her thoughts drifted to Gin, who she was supposed to be meeting at this time. Rangiku pouts and rushes through a few pages before checking the clock. 10 minutes late. She grips the pen in her hand tightly, snapping it. "Oh no! I broke my pen, I have to run to the supply closet to get more!" she gasps, and flashes out of the room. She could hear Toshiro yelling at her from the office, but she keeps running til she stood next to Gin, chest heaving. The silver haired Captain just laughs.

"Wha' did he have ya doin'?" he asks her. They start walking to the place they were going out to eat at. Rangiku pauses to kick a rock that just lay there on the ground. She hesitated to answer so that could only mean one thing. "He was makin' ya do ya paperwork wasn' he?" Gin asks. Rangiku nods. Gin laughs. "I'll jus' have ta send ya back early then," he finished. He couldn't help but notice the near pout on Rangiku's face. They arrive at a small out of the way restaurant. They enter and Rangiku looks confused. "I swear its the best aroun' here." They are shown to seats and place their orders. Gin reaches his hand across the table and lays it on hers. She smiles at him and he returns it with one of his real smiles.

* * *

Coyote Stark was having one of those rare days where he was able to stay awake. And he was bored. Lilinette was no where to be seen, which was unusual. Had she told him at some point she was going somewhere? He walks around their Division and feels around for her reiatsu. And was appalled to find it quite some distance away. Sighing he realizes she was out at 9th again. Turning away, he searches out the reiatsu of Tia. He sonidos over to her side to see her training with Apache. He waits for them to take a break and walks over to them. "Hi," he greets them. Tia's eyes meet his and he can tell the strain it was causing her to have her other two former fraccion away from her. They walk side by side towards a shady spot by the tree. The day must be swelteringly hot to the water oriented former 3rd Espada. They sit and there was still silence. It was comfortable for them though, and a common occurrence. "Lili's out at 9th again." Stark says.

"She told me before she left. She's been hanging out with the Lieutenant there. Although she told me that she would be meeting select members of the division today. Testing the waters to making you two additions to 9th. The lieutenant had heard Grimmjow was having some trouble over there, and wanted to make sure it wouldn't happen there. Of course Orihime says it will still be a while before any more of us are sent about." Tia says. Stark just nods.

"And what about you? Have you given any thought to where you are going to go?" Tia shakes her head. "Maybe you could come to 9th. Be third seat. Then we'd both have our numbers back." they both chuckle at that.

* * *

Neliel was in the cafeteria feasting on some sweet things, something that had staid over from her days as a small child. She hears the scraping of a few chairs, and glances up to see a couple of the hybrids leaving. Because at that moment, in walked Nnoitra. He grabbed something off of the buffet table, likely a steak or something with meat, and glanced around. With hardly a moments hesitation, he heads in her direction. He pulls out the chair across from hers and sits in it, his long legs stretching out on either sides of hers. Nel nearly leaves, but forces herself to stay. Sometimes being around him made the crack in her mask ache. This was one of those days. "Bitch," Nnoitra said by way of greeting. Nel just nodded at him. She watches him dig into his steak with disgust. He was like an animal. She zones him out as he says something demeaning or cruel.

"You know, if we go by school children rules, it would mean you have quite the crush on me," she tells him. He pauses, then looks up at her and glares. She cuts him off before he can reply. "Is that what you are? A child?" she asks, and stands. The pain in her mask was too much to bear now. She rushes away, and goes to her room.

* * *

Lilinette was nervous for the first time since arriving at 9th that day. She didn't feel like she was ready to meet the division, even just a few of them. Its not that the shinigami she'd met so far were unfriendly, but just that none of them had had to really look at her as a potential squad member. Shuuhei smiled at her just a little, before opening the door and calling in the few individuals he'd decided to have meet her. He introduced her and told them about both her and Stark. About the roles he'd decided to have them fill. Her being an unseated officer was something she'd expected, due to her abilities. Or lack thereof. But what she hadn't expected was welcoming smiles of the few she'd been introduced to. She tried to smile back and be plenty nice. One asked where Stark was. "Probably sleeping," Lilinette said with a scowl and it made the others laugh. Which sort of sealed the deal with them. They all invited her to go hang out and have a drink or two which she refused. Shuuhei waved them out of the room after a bit he kicked back in his chair at his desk, and Lilinette stood there not knowing what to do. "I'm gonna head back to Stark," she says, stepping towards the door. Shuuhei flashed over to her.

"I'll at least walk to you the edge of my district," he said. So he walks with her to the edge of 9th. They didn't talk, which was awkward, but neither knew what to say. Lili was actually a little embarrassed by Shuuhei's offer. But she hadn't wanted to refuse. They paused at the edge, and Lili smiled at him. She waves, and then dashes off.

* * *

Orihime was cleaning up her desk for the evening, so that she could start the morning with a clear space. She walks over to Ulquiorra's desk. He was just waiting for her to finish, something he'd done every night lately. "So Ulquiorra-san, have you given any thought to where you are going to go when 14th is gone?" She asks as he stands up. He glances at her, most likely decided if it was a question that he had to answer.

"With you of course Onna," was all he said. Orihime looked stunned. His answer had kept her quiet all the way until they had reached the door of her room.

"But what about staying here with the others? This is your home now. You don't have to follow me anywhere. I'm just going back to Karakura town. If its my safety you are worried about, Ichigo is there, and Chad and Tatsuki and Uryu." she says smiling. "And what about 5th? They need a Captain, and I thought you'd be doing that. Because you're the strongest." she finished. Ulquiorra shook his head no at her deciding not to answer. Because saying that he didn't feel she was safe unless she was with him sounded like he cared about the woman. And because saying that he didn't care to be responsible for an entire division of people, including one destroyed lieutenant, wasn't like him. "Goodnight Ulquiorra-san," Orihime said. He had to stop himself from saying goodnight back.

* * *

Rukia walks through the halls of 6th. It was late evening and her brother had yet to return to the manor. So with a large basket of the still warm remainder of what the servants had made for dinner, Rukia had returned to the Seireitei and to her brother's division. She knocks on the door to his office and is nonchalantly bade to enter. She does and sets the basket before her brother. He merely glances inside, pulls out one wrapped parcel of food and waves her and the basket away. "I won't be too long. Have the servants light the lamps in my garden for when I return." Byakuya tells her. Rukia nods. She begins to leave, then decides to take the left overs to Renji. The servants would only throw them away might as well feed her friend.

She knocks on the door to his room and it slides open softly. Renji was staring at her in surprise wearing his only his hakama. Not only that but his hair was down and dripping. He must have just gotten out of the shower. Rukia's eyes travel over Renji's chest and abdomen before jumping back to his face. Embarrassed, Rukia shoves the basket against Renji's chest. "Hear eat this. I figured you didn't have anything good to eat. You probably can't even cook," she said, using her most annoying tone and smirk.

"I can probably cook better than you. Or at least even draw better," Renji said, grabbing her arm and pulling her inside. He sets the basket on the table and walks to his dresser, pulling out a shirt to wear over his hakama. Rukia opens the basket and starts putting away the contents in a small refridgerator. She scoops up the empty basket and backs towards the door.

"I should probably leave," she says, "I have to give the servants nii-sama's orders." she says sliding open the door. Renji's face falls into a hurt expression for just a second. Then he smiles, and grabs Rukia, hugging her. Then he waves good bye. Rukia hurries through the districts and then to the Kuchiki manor. When she's safely in her room after ordering around the servants for Byakuya's sake, she sighs. She hated when Renji gave her that look. It made her feel bad. But it didn't matter that she liked him. Because she could never be with him to protect him from nii-sama.

* * *

Soi Fon stood out alone in the wooded area outside. She crouched down before a small grave. She'd fought his family to have him buried there, in the Seireitei away from his family, but she'd argued that he'd died in the line of duty and therefore his body belonged to them. It wasn't accurate, but it made for convenient, not obvious visits. She didn't want her squad to think her sentimental. She had in her hand a bag of potato chips, his favorite, which she ground into dust in the bag. Then she emptied the contents over his burial site. She knew his body wasn't actually still there, that it had turned to the reishi that made up the Seireitei, but it made her feel better. Maybe if she'd been paying just a bit more attention, he wouldn't have died. She could never get that out of her head. She picked up the bundle of flowers leaning up against the small cross, and sat them inside the chip bag. It wasn't the most elegant way to have the flowers there, but it gave the grave a little bit of his personality. She glanced at the top of the cross, where his badge had been tied. Sighing, she took it, intending to finally give it to Grimmjow.

_**Sorry it took me so long again! I've been working a ton of hours this week and then I also had to think of what I wanted to write. **_

_**Also, I wanted to let you guys know how I imagine the Seireitei to be laid out. In the center, there is Division 1. There is also the Soukyouku Hill. Around 1, is 2. Then there is the heavily wooded area where Soi Fon fought Yoroichi (Rescue Rukia Arc). That is also where the Hive is hidden. Then there is the space around the center and divisions (as seen just before Ichigo fought Renji in the Rescue Rukia arc.) and then there is third and so on. So the way I have it is that the divisions are rings. It's kind of awkward, but it kind of makes sense to me with the Seireitei being in a round shape (shown by the illustration of how the gang was going to use the flower cannon to enter the Seireitei (also in the Rescue Rukia arc.)**_

_**Hope you enjoyed! **_


	9. Better

_**Ok first and foremost I feel like a terrible author! If I'd paid more attention to my phone when I had to change my email password I would have realized my phone wasn't connected to my email anymore and I would have gotten to updating much faster. Secondly, holy cow I got 4 reviews(from 3 people) for Chapter 8, so you must have liked it! Which makes me super happy. To make up for the lateness (because I feel just awful) I plan to write 3 chapters as soon as I can. One for every person that reviewed me! I will do responses at the bottom, and just so you know, you are all amazing! By the way I'm taking requests for other pairings to include (if they don't conflict with my exsisting) and I'm also taking requests for scenes to put in. Once I get my main plot going its going to be my major focus and I want your opinion on little fluff bits to put in here and there. Onward!**_

Chapter 9...Better.

Fourth Captain Retsu Unohana couldn't help but to smile. The medication Kurotsuchi had sent had broken Kato's fever. The girl was still recovering, but she was finally on the mend. The very second she'd deemed the girl stable she'd sent word to 6th that she was going to be discharged soon. She'd also said in the note that the girl was not to continue to rest and not take on any missions for another week. Just light chores and drills training for the poor girl. But Unohana didn't want the girl's system to relapse. "I just want you to stay one more night to make sure nothing else comes up," she told the girl kindly. The girl was still weak and could barely muster a nod. The captain leaves the girl's room and makes her way to her office. It was about the time that Kenpachi usually showed up.

She sat in her office for almost an hour waiting. No Kenpachi. It made the woman wonder, did he take her advice about Yachiru, or was he simply staying out of fights this day. Or at least staying out of a fight with Ikkaku. Taking time to work on her Captain's paperwork, she realized how bored she'd grown. Was it always like this, or was it simply her former personality longing for a good fight? Unohana couldn't be sure.

* * *

Kenpachi stared listlessly at the empty clearing. Yachiru was running around laughing and giggling, and on most days that would bring a small smile to his face. But for some reason, being in this clearing gave him chills. He kept having flashbacks to the bodies lying around and the blood covering the grass that was now green. And there, amidst the carnage, came crawling Yachiru. Bravely, the girl had gone up and touched the zanpakuto beside him. One he'd wrested from the corpse of a dead shinigami and kept with him since. But flashbacks of Yachiru weren't the only one's he'd been having. He was seeing bits and pieces of the battle he'd had when he was much younger. The one he'd had with his idol whose face he couldn't remember. But here and there the was the flash of long black hair, and the twisted grin of the woman he'd named Yachiru for.

He was broken from his silent reverie by a little hand grabbing his. He glances down at Yachiru who smiles back up at him. "Thanks Kenny, I like this place!" she said excitedly before rushing off again to pick a few flowers that had blossomed up on the far side of the field.

* * *

Soi Fon rifled through the papers on the desk. She was checking for complaints. There were none of the usual complaints. Now that the division was on their best behavior, it was Grimmjow's behavior she had to deal with. Complaints about him picking fights over the smallest comments, and already there were several complaints from girls who he'd either slept with or at least flirted with about his sexual harrassment. This was more her style, it was something she could handle. One single person, completely disobeying her. She'd known his behaving wouldn't last. Now it was time to solve the problem. She searched out his reiatsu since he hadn't bothered to show up for work yet, and went there. He was, of course at the training field, picking a fight with some poor weak guy who had likely called him a sadist for the harsh training methods he used. "Jeagerjacks!" Soi Fon called. With his signature smile, he was there in an instant. He pulls out of his sonido, and Soi Fon strikes. She kicks him in the gut, and sends him flying back several feet. It was a good, clean shot of course. And so, Grimmjow's lesson began. Soi Fon was brutal. She pummeled him, whenever he hit the ground, he had to fight for the chance to get back up. And when she was finished, she grabbed his arm and took off, dragging him away from the rest of the squad. "You said you were going to be on your best behavior, you said you would try to prove that the hybrids are good additions, does that mean nothing to you now?" she asks, standing with her hands on her hips.

Grimmjow couldn't help but grin, Soi Fon's anger was much more attractive than the pity she'd tried to hide. And the way she was standing... he held back a groan. "I'm just passing the time, besides you said yourself that you wanted me to be hard on them," he told her. She narrowed her eyes.

"Hard on them when they show weakness, and pummeling them for name-calling, are two entirely different things," Soi Fon said. Grimmjow rolled his eyes, and bolted off. Soi Fon shut her eyes, took a deep breath, and returned to her office to finish her work.

* * *

Orihime was staring at the list of her Squad members. It was a long list of course, but she was supposed to be making a list of where everyone in her division wanted to go. Not that they would get to go there of course, but it was a start. She'd already filled in a a bunch of spots. Mainly those of the lower ranked members of her team. But she'd called in Stark, and he'd told her that they'd planned to go to 9th and that 9th had already accepted them, it was just waiting on Yamamoto. She'd been so proud of the way she'd handled being requested to make this list. She'd sent out surveys with the instructions, and the list of all squads and had been told to circle only one. It was quick and easy.

A knock on the door interrupts her. It was a messenger from 1st. She was told to report to Yamamoto. So she clears her desk and brings what she has so far of her list. As she stands before the Captain, she got a chill as usual. It was always strange. She felt like she had something blocking her throat that she couldn't swallow down. "I requested you to come here so we could discuss the assimilation. First and foremost I have two Captain's positions to fill. If any hybrids fill them they must be high ranking former Espadas." he says. Orihime nodded.

"I have Coyote Stark for 9th, and the lieutenant has requested this for the position for 5th... I was thinking Tia Halibel. She hasn't decided yet, but I did ask her about it." Orihime replies. The Captain-Commander gave her a strange look.

"And what about your Lieutenant. Has he not expressed interest in 5th. I'd prefer to have him in that position." Yamamoto said. His voice had that don't-deny-me tone. Orihime fidgeted her toes. She sighed, then took a deep breath.

"Sir, with all due respect, as the 'Hollow Queen', Ulquiorra Cifer has decided that when my duty to the Soul Society is complete that he will stay with me as my protector. After all, if something were to happen to me, that would break all allegience my hybrids have to the Seireitei since I'm the only reason the truce was made. That would make it in your interest to allow this. Also, as I'm worried about the conditions of Hueco Mundo, I plan to send some of my...less civilized members under the joint leadership of Nnoitra Jiruga and another of my higher ranked back to Hueco Mundo to moniter the situation there. They will, of course report back to both you and myself." she says. She looks at her feet, not wanting to meet his gaze.

"That sounds like a good way to deal with the more volatile members you have. But why Cifer and not Halibel as your protector then? Was Halibel not a higher rank?" he asks. Orihime swallowed hard. "Ulquiorra's Segunda Etapa puts him Zero Espada. Who it took 2 of your finest to take down. He is the best suited for the job sir, or I wouldn't have followed his decision to stay myself." Orihime replies. Yamamoto nods after a while. Orihime shows him the list she'd accumulated thus far and is dismissed. She reenters her assigned area and breathes out a sigh of relief. At least he wasn't too mad at her.

_**Ok I know this one is a little short but I am going to do 3 updates as soon as I can write them and I wanted to get this one up today. So I hope you enjoyed it and now here are your review replies. **_

_** : Thank you so much I'm glad you liked my story. I'm a little confused by what you meant by GrimmHime? Do you mean with the characters when you are searching for stories? What I did was put the most popular arrancar (in my opinion) up so that it would show up to as many people as possible. I promise there won't be any GrimmHime here (huge GrimmSoi fan) And you do have some of the pairings here but in fact all of the little mini episodes from Chapter 8 contain a pairing. My story is going to rely on having these pairings for the main action sequences. Please continue to read.**_

_**Albinos: Thank you for yet another review and I sure do hope that I can manage it. I love this story dearly. **_

_**The Guest Reviewer: Of course your review was mentioned! I love all of my reviewers, they make me the writer I am with their praises and constructive criticism. And yes, making him the first was risky. But while he is reckless and unpredictable, I wanted to show that he can be serious and dependable. Which you do see little bits of in the anime. Or at least I do anyways. And I think Soi Fon needed a shake up anyways. And I hope to fit more GinRan moments, as well as Nanao and Kyouraku, but I'm taking baby steps with them. I usually don't read Gin with Ran (Don't like her much cause I have a thing against big boobs) and I have never read a NanaoKyou so I don't want to try anything too big with them in case I do it wrong. Any advice you have for me for those pairings, or ideas for scenes with them to squeeze in would be very much helpful. Thanks again!**_


	10. Surprise!

_**Ok, so here is number 2 in my rapid 3 spree...which I then have to add a fourth one for another review! I have a little more time today to write (I'm writing these before I go to work since I am dead tired after work) so hopefully this one ends up being longer. We shall see I guess. Also, I got a request for a little more UlquiHime so here goes.**_

Chapter 10...Surprise!

"Woman, you are staring at me," his nonchalant voice breaks her gaze. She blushes immediately, throwing out an excuse about zoning out. There were times when he wondered about what she could be thinking with an expression like that, but then, remembering how Orihime was, he knew it would be something odd and totally unrelated to whatever she'd been thinking when she'd started the thought. He watches her expression go back to the 'zoning out' face again, and he sighed. Having the woman as a Captain was tiresome. Before she could notice, he quickly swiped her smaller than normal stack of paperwork. As he looked through it he realized it wasn't paperwork at all. It was the survey's she'd sent out the day before. "Woman, where is your work for the day?" he asked. Perhaps when he had been involved in his own work she'd done something silly like make them into airplanes and throw them out the window to carry their tiny passengers away.

"I don't have any today," she said quietly. That was it, the reason for her non focus. She knew it was almost time for the assimilation. And that meant that Grimmjow had been doing good...strangely. There would be no more missions even though they'd just begun. There would be no more 14th, and no more reason for the woman to be in the place Ulquiorra had deemed the safest for her. He inwardly sighed, his stoic expression remaining the same. Ulquiorra should have realized it sooner, when his own stack had been strangely slim. Ulquiorra filled out Orihime's list with all of the new surveys, and handed them back to her. It was almost a full list. Just a few stragglers left. Including Tia and her fraccion. As well as Nnoitra. Brushing it off, he returns to his desk to fill out the last two of his forms. The first was the usual, a request for specific testing subjects from 12th. It was yet again ignored, and he threw it in the trash. The second, was a letter to him specifically, from the Captain-Commander. It implored him to leave the task of protecting Orihime to those in Karakura town, and to assume the responsibility of 5th Captain. That too, he threw away. That must be another reason that the woman was acting strangely. She must have thought he would abandon her to be killed. And while it would be easier for him, it was still an terrible idea to leave the woman to her own devices. She couldn't even properly feed herself.

"Woman, follow me," he told her. She gave him a questioning look, but he simply stared at her till she stood and followed him to the door. He walks around the Soul Society with her beside him, and finally they reach their destination. It was an ice cream place. The woman's eyes lit up. She laughingly told the man behind the counter she wanted 'one of everything' but after a moment settled on a colorful one. Ulquiorra set some money on the counter, and the two left, walking side by side back to 14th. Ulquiorra glances at the woman. How she always made a mess of herself without caring was beyond his thinking. He reached out to wipe some ice cream from her face, then stopped himself. It was a strange thing to do, especially for him. He retracted his hand, and settled for handing her a handkerchief. "Woman your face is a mess." She grinned at him, wiped her face, and handed it back.

"Thank you," she said, going back to her ice cream. Ulquiorra found himself staring at her bright face. And then swiftly berated himself for acting strangely. He needed to stop that.

* * *

Lilinette was sitting alone in the mess hall. She was bored, and had nothing better to do. Shuuhei was busy and Stark was sleeping. So she sat her chin on the table and thought. About all of the things that brought them to where they were today. She ran through her head the battle at the fake Karakura town where Stark and her almost died. And then when Orihime came and how she healed them all. It wasn't until after the battle when they all went back to Hueco Mundo that they saw all of the wreckage there and learned what had gone down. That there were some people Orihime hadn't been able to save. There were a few of the lower arrancar that had gone before she'd even been let out of her cell. Then there was Arronierro who's only real body was the two heads. Without the fluid from their casing, she wasn't able to keep them alive. She'd brought them back but they'd died again. And Zommari Leroux, his body had already dissipated by the time Orihime had made it to that battle scene. And finally Szayel. Mayuri's poison had completely obliterated his brain. She'd tried to heal him too, but the poison had stayed in his system and killed him all over again. Mayuri was good. She was glad that Orihime throws away all of his requests. The man was pure evil that was for sure. Lili felt sorry for his Lieutenant. She was practically alone in the world except for him, who (as she understood it) was actually her father. Poor girl. Lili had actually asked around and only the most bizarre of the hybrids (and the few remaining of Szayel's fraccion) have actually volunteered to go to 12th division.

Lili sighs again. She wished Shuuhei wasn't busy. Then they could practice her swordsmanship. He was trying to help her get to be a better fighter so she wouldn't be as useless. And Stark promised to help her with her cero too. Before, at Hueco Mundo she didn't need to train. Because Stark just needed her. But now here, Captains don't do battle very often at all. So they needed her to be a good fighter just in case they had to send her on a mission. She was honestly excited to be trained for once.

* * *

_**Meanwhile in Karakura**_

Ichigo sat down with his family. While hollow sitings were still pretty bad around here, things had actually been quiet otherwise. He was doing good in school again, which was good considering he was almost done with his junior year. Then he just had to do his senior year and he was done with school. To do what? Be a full time Soul Reaper? Work full time at Usanagi's? More schooling would be pointless with his Soul Reaper duties. So he needed to stick around here.

"Ichigo! I asked you if the food was good!" Yuzu exclaims. She'd been getting more vocal since she'd become a middle schooler. Ichigo smiled at his sisters. Karin was even growing her hair out now. They were both getting more mature. And both could see both ghosts and hollows now. He worried about that. More than he should. He knew he could protect them, especially with his new gift from the Soul Society.

Speaking of which, the Soul Pager in his pocket made a loud beeping noise. One...two...three. It was a hollow's coordinates. He excused himself from the table, and bolted up to his room. He grabs Kon, takes the Soul Pill and escapes from his body. He gave Kon the usual instructions, and leaps out the window. It wasn't a particularly strong hollow. But it was still his duty to take care of it. "You know...at first we were really worried about you nee-san. Always running out all of the time. But then dad explained things to us. So then we were worried you'd get hurt. So what we don't understand now, is why you haven't said anything to us about what it is you just did," Ichigo turns around in horror. Standing there were both of his sisters and his father. His father was in soul form. And somehow, he never noticed til now, that there was this terrible little bracelet on Karin's wrist. One just like Uryu used to have.

"You know, if you were home more often nee-san, instead of running off to Soul Society all the time, we could have talked about this. Before you had to find out like this. But we don't want you to do it all alone anymore. We can help nee-san. We're special too," Yuzu added. Shaking his head, he glances at Yuzu too... not sweet Yuzu.

"H-how are they..." Ichigo asks his dad, yet being unable to finish his sentence. His father just shakes his head.

"If you had been home more often, I could have told you too, but it never felt like the right time. Yes, both of your sisters are Quincies. But so are you. Deep down inside of you, you are part Quincy. It was a gift your mother gave you. Unfortunately, you took more towards my side than your sisters. But that was partly to do with Rukia-san bringing that out in you. Your sisters have the shinigami side to them too. And I have to say, it seems to be a great combination. For some reason, their Quincy arrows act like a konso more than a purifier. That's how soul society doesn't know more Quincy exist. Because they are both. I've had my old friend Ishida training them. He doesn't much like training mine and Masaki's daughters, but he knows that's what she wanted. After all, she did have three Quincy bracelets for me to give to you guys. Since you are all still living, we thought you'd all be Quincies like her. But you had to be the unpredictable one Ichigo. Still, I'm sure even with the way things turned out that she'd want you to have it." Isshin said, tossing the bracelet to Ichigo. Ichigo was having a hard time taking all of it in. He collapsed to the ground, staring at his baby sisters. It appeared he wouldn't be able to protect them forever. Because they both wanted to throw themselves into danger like he always did. Guess it was a family trait.

_**Ok! So I really wanted to hurry up and put the Kurosaki sisters in on this since Karin is part of one of my pairings I have yet to put up...bet you all know which pairing that is. Anyways, yea I wasn't sure I was going to make them Quincies until I started to put them in it. But it just makes sense. Why else would (Spoiler Alert) Karin have been working for Urahara after Ichigo lost his powers. And I wanted Yuzu to be a Quincy too, because it just didn't seem fair that she'd be the only normal one in the family. So I hope you enjoyed that chapter! I managed to fit in both things that Belit. Lihara had mentioned in her latest review that being what happened to the other arrancar, except for Yammy, I left him out on purpose by the way haven't decided for sure where he is, and then also she wanted some more UlquiHime fluff. So there goes!**_

_** : Thank you again for reviewing! And I'm glad you are enjoying my story. So I hope that I gave you a little more fluff with them, and that I answered some of your questions. I can't wait til I reveal my plot. I'm so anxious to do it but I want it to really be developed when I do...and I like the suspense. Anyways, thanks again, I'll be updating again tomorrow I think. If I have time. If not then probably Tuesday (at the latest) I have to take my cat to the vet Monday and the vet always has like a 6 hour wait to get in. **_


	11. It Begins

_**I'm just trying to keep up let alone catch up right now, I'm so happy I'm getting reviews for every update. I don't think I will ever really catch back up lol. Because I'm sure I'll have another email from another reviewer tomorrow after I post this one. My total of chapters to do is now 4 even after last nights update. Thank you Albinos and ! I'm so happy my story is even getting reviews. This is probably my most popular story, and that means that I'm growing as an author (I think) which gives me tons to be happy about. So thank you all, and here goes the next chapter. **_

Chapter 11...It Begins

"Wake up! You promised you'd help me today now get up lazy ass!" Lilinette exclaimed leaping up onto Stark's bed and landing with her knees to his stomach. Stark groaned as the air left his lungs. He pushes Lili off of him and rolls onto his side. The girl glares and starts to shake the man. Of course he would decide to be lazy on the day he said he would train her. It was just like him to do that to her. And she couldn't stay weak like she used to be. Not after that battle. She'd given it a lot of thought since then and even more since yesterday when she'd thought about the losses they'd suffered. That could have been them. Her and Stark. If Orihime hadn't been there when she did, they both would have died. Lilinette hadn't been any use. All she did was distract the other Captain from jumping in on Stark's fight sooner. He wouldn't even take her seriously. Maybe if she'd been a little stronger she could have killed the sick Captain and maybe her and Stark wouldn't have lost.

She shook her head. That battle was in the past. She wouldn't be fighting the Shinigami anymore. They were her allies now. And that meant that there would be a peace time. There was always a time of peace after a great war. She was smart enough to know that. And the time of peace gave her time enough to learn how to be a real threat in battle. At least real enough that she wouldn't have to rely on Stark so much, since Captains usually weren't part of battles unless necessary.

She kicked Stark in the back. The man finally roused from his slumber and stood up. He grabbed his clothing from his dresser and went into the bathroom. He came out looking like he normally did. Extremely bored and extremely exhausted. It almost wasn't fair how much he slept versus everyone else. Lilinette practically pulled him along to 14th's training area. There was a target range on the far side, and that's where they went.

* * *

Shuuhei Hisagi was going crazy. It was a slow day, he'd finally caught up on most of the paperwork and there wasn't anything else he could do until the filing room got sorted out. And that wasn't something he was willing to tackle today. He stood. If he remembered what Lili had said correctly, she was supposed to be training with Stark right about now. It was a good time to actually see the two in action. He gets up from his desk, leaves instruction for the 3rd seat, and walks over to 14th. It was actually a pretty nice day, and he didn't feel like hurrying. When he finally got there, he just hung back, staying out of the way. He found himself smiling when Lilinette began to yell at Stark for not explaining things properly. He watched silently for a while as she shot at the targets. She wasn't very good at aiming, and when she did hit a target it only burned it a little. Stark was right in his concern about her going anywhere without him. But maybe that's why she wanted to get stronger so badly. So that she didn't need Stark as much. But unless something drastic happened, they would always need each other. The duo takes a pause and that's when Shuuhei goes over to greet them.

* * *

Kato leans over the toilet in her bathroom and vomits. The medicine she'd been given had helped, but now she was sick again. She stands, wiping her mouth and stumbling out of her quarters. She walks with a hand against the walls, holding herself up as she hurriedly makes her way towards fourth. It was just two divisions away. She was in the middle of 5th when she has to hurry to a nearby trash can to exspell the remaining contents of her stomach. She stares in horror when she notices the blood. A hand touches her shoulder and she turns, only to begin coughing blood. The person who'd come to check on her shouted for someone to fetch a healer. They helped her sit down, and she continued to cough. The person brought their handkerchief to her lips. Kato began to cry, worried for her health. There was a lot of blood now, and she was beginning to feel weak. 4th arrives, and puts her on a stretcher so they could transport her faster. She leans over the side of the stretcher and vomits pure blood, then passes out from bloodloss. It was only later that Mito realized the girl he'd stopped to help had gotten her blood on him. He went to the bathroom and scrubbed til his skin was pink. Blood had always bothered him.

* * *

Renji was walking out of the office for a break for the first time that morning. He immediately turns to head in the direction of 13, and one pesky little Lieutenant there. He hears his name being called and turns. It was Rikichi waving a paper at him. The boy stops and hands Renji the paper. It was a missive from 4th. That sick girl was in critical condition. Sighing, Renji walks back onto the office, giving the paper to Byakuya for him to read. Byakuya nods and waves him off to go on his break anyways. Renji runs to meet Rukia. They'd made plans to do lunch again. He meets her as she's leaving her office, and they go to their usual restaurant. Today was the day Renji was finally going to proclaim his feelings for her. They order and sit in silence.

Rukia could tell something was on Renji's mind. She could read him like a book. And she knew exactly what he was going to do. Renji opened his mouth, and Rukia immediately stopped him. "Don't Renji," she says softly. He stared at her with his mouth open. How she wanted to close it for him. "You know we can't. Don't complicate things. We can at least be friends, you have to let that be good enough for you." she tells him. His shocked expression hardens.

"I worked my butt of to get to be a Lieutenant so that I could be worthy of even talking to you. Do you think I really wanted you to go be a Kuchiki? So I could lose every chance I had at being with the person I cared about? But that was exactly it, I cared about you and being a Kuchiki was the best thing that could have happened to you. Look at you now! It took a very long time til I got to the point in my life where I thought I would be worthy-"

Rukia cuts him off again "Nothing will make you worthy in nii-sama's eyes! You will never be good enough to be with even the lowest member of the Kuchiki family to him!" she exclaims. Renji finishes his sentence anyways.

"Til I got to a point where I felt that I would be worthy of the honor to be with you. Your brother's opinion wasn't what I cared about. It was that I didn't feel worthy of being with you. But apparently your brother's opinion means more to you than I do," he says sullenly, standing. "Guess it was all a waste of my time." Renji drops money on the table and leaves the restaurant. He wouldn't be returning to his division any time soon. In fact, he made sure he had his pass, and left the Seireitei altogether, going out into the Rukon. He flash-stepped to the Hanging Dog, number 74. He never stopped til he stood on the hill where they'd buried their friends. Where he and Rukia had made the decision that had changed their lives forever. He sat down between two of the three worn down crosses and stared out over the district.

_**Ok I know this one was kind of short too but I'm trying to catch up like I said. Down to 3 again after this goes up, but I know it will be 4 again tomorrow. You guys are wonderful! **_

_**Albinos: No I didn't use the word trash so directly. I didn't even realize til you said that. It rather amused me when you pointed it out actually. Hopefully I gave you some better insight as to what Lili has been thinking lately. I'm trying to develop her and Shuuhei a little better as the inter species drama is about to become huge. And I want a little of their relationship to be able to shine through it all, and so I need them to be close. And yea, it was just a short little glimpse, Karin and Urahara's working together, but it struck me, especially when Ichigo's mom's heritage was brought about. And no it's not just you. I'm trying to darken it up. The fluff is actually about to get a little less fluffy now unfortunately. I don't know how much more I can throw in now that its all begun. That's why I need your guy's input for little scenes. **_

_** : For the next hybrid, it will probably be Stark and Tia. After all, they are still short the two captains, and those spots need filled before they can begin the full assimilation. Just wanted to wait another chapter. Give it some real time before the decision was 'officially made'. And yep, Orihime will finally be able to go back to see Tatsuki. **_


	12. Two

_**Well here's another chapter! Thanks to Albinos who reviewed again and thanks to for the pm. Total still at 4! I'm really trying to catch up, I promise, but I'm just having a tad bit of a hard time coming up with things to write. I guess my writers block is coming from the fact that I want to start the plot, but realized that certain pairings aren't the kind to fall together under stress, and without proper development would fall apart during this time. So I needed to up the ante of the pairings. Which is what is happening in at least this chapter if not next one. Also I've in the past week I've gone from having an infection in my tear ducts to feeling really nauseous so I'm not having the best of luck in the health department. But as my boss says, no excuses, just results, so onward!**_

Chapter 12...Two

Soi Fon turned off her alarm. It was 4:30 in the morning. Time for her run, then her early morning training. At 7, she would go to her office and do her Captain's work. Pulling on just the basics of her uniform, leaving behind her haori, armsocks, and spare uniform top, she exits the barracks and heads for the woods. She usually made a perimeter around there, stopped by the hive to check on the situation there, made another perimeter and then went home to shower and get ready for the day. Today was no different, except that she wasn't the only one in the woods. She ignores the other presence, reminding herself to check on the suppressed reiatsu later. On the last leg of her run, she turns, and dashes for the other presence hoping to startle them. She'd masked her presence down to nothingness, and took to the treeline. She stopped once the person came into view. Apparently, her runs were no longer going to be hers alone. She had to share early morning training time with a pesky blue haired man with no regard for anyone but himself. She had to respect that he wasn't as lazy as she first thought him to be. Lazy people didn't get up at 4:30 to train. She smirks and heads home.

She'd just stepped out of the shower when a light tapping on her door made her sigh. She wrapped her towel around her, glad that it covered all of the necessary areas. She opened her door with her hands on her hips, furious that her morning ritual was disturbed. And of course, it was the destroyer of peace and solitude himself. She glares. "What, going to disturb my daily showers as well as early morning training?" she demands, turning away from the door. Grimmjow just walked right in behind her, shutting the door.

Now that he was there Grimmjow didn't really know what to say. He'd come to pester her about stalking him, or watching him, or something, but once she'd opened the door...all rational thoughts left his head. Now he was just standing there...looking stupid. It'd been a fight not to drop his jaw at the sight of her. Now he was having trouble keeping his hands away. "See something you like?" she asks, stepping into the bedroom portion of her quarters and closing the door. Thinking quickly, he came up with a suitable reply just as she came out dressed in a fresh uniform, still basic like before. She had her arms crossed across her chest waiting to see what he'd come up with.

"Any man can appreciate a nice ass, but you just don't have enough of a chest for my tastes. Still child size isn't something I go for," Grimmjow says. Immediately Soi Fon puffs up and he has a hard time not laughing. Her face reddens and she starts ranting as she approaches him and pushes him out the door. When the door is finally slammed in his face that's when he finally laughs, as he walks to go prepare for the day himself.

Soi Fon found herself dreading entering the office building. She didn't want to have to deal with Grimmjow. Not after how she'd reacted to his comment earlier. If she'd been any sort of a proper woman, she would have shown him that her chest was plenty good enough. Not shown how embarrassed she was by it. Now he was going to tease her about that as well as the usual remarks. She steeled her shoulders, knowing he probably wouldn't beat her there at least, and stormed into the building. She passed the filing room, yelled at the sluggish members of her squad to get busy, and continued on. Having convinced herself he wouldn't be there she just threw open the door. And froze. He was already there, flirting with one of her Onmitsukido who held a paper in her hands. For a millisecond she was at a loss for what to say. "Report!" she says, walking over to her desk and taking a seat. Grimmjow kicks his feet up onto Omeada's...Grimmjow's desk.

"At approximately 0630 hours this morning an organized revolt occurred in the Hive. 2 of the Onmitsukido have been captured and the Onmitsukido have reached an impasse. With the rules set for the Hive, there isn't much we can do to rescue our captured comrades." the girl says.

"For getting captured you ought to just leave them there," Grimmjow says harshly. He then decides to ignore the Captain and the Onmitsukido girl. He closes his eyes, leaning back in his chair and proceeds to relax. Only to have his feet thrown from the desk.

"Well Grimmjow it looks like you are due an outing to the Hive," Soi Fon says with a smirk. The trio head into the woods that conceal the Hive and are stopped at the door by the guards who no matter what happens are never to leave the door unguarded. The hold out their hands expectantly. Soi Fon easily hands over her zanpakuto and then looks expectantly at Grimmjow.

"No way," he says, gripping onto Pantera possessively. Soi Fon slaps his hand away from the weapon and tosses it to the guard. They are then ushered inside. "What the hell was that about why can't I have my zanpakuto?" he asks her.

"There are no weapons in the Hive. That way if someone isn't paying attention their weapons can't be used against them." Soi Fon said. Not that any one of her squad really deserved to be anywhere near the hive if they could have their weapon taken from them. They stop at the second door, and Grimmjow and the girl are frisked. Finally, they are let into the rec room, where several Onmitsukido stood. Soi Fon merely glares at the first and they begin a breakdown of the situation.

"At 0600 we let in the first group for rec. At 0630 when we were bringing in the second group and dismissing the first, several of them reached out and drug 2 of our memebers into the hallways and down the elevator. They are being held on the third floor. We've been down to check the situation. The 2 are in a cell, locked. The two groups are packed in together and with the small hallway a great enough force can't get through them." he said. Honestly, if she was a little more sarcastic she probably would have yawned at him. She was internally relieved when Grimmjow did it for her. She waved Grimmjow forward and walked into the hallway that lead to the elevator. When they are both in, they go down the levels. Before them was a mob. Apparently they'd let some more prisoners out of their cells. Soi Fon moved swiftly forward. A few of the rebels flinched when they saw she was there. Some attacked first, thought later. They are cleanly knocked out. The rebels who truly knew to fear her completely backed away, even putting themselves in cells.

Grimmjow followed behind his captain, watching her effortlessly breeze through the crowd. She makes her way to the instigator and shoves him to Grimmjow to hold onto. Then she frees her men and everyone is moved back to cells. All groups had lost rec privileges for the day. The main instigator is then taken down to the lower floors and ultimately solitary confinement, where he'd spend a while.

Problem solved, the duo retrieve their weapons and go back to their office to do the usual routine, only now Soi Fon had to write an extra report on the revolt in the Hive. At least she could say things were never too boring in second. "You looked pretty good in there," Soi Fon was startled to hear. He seemed like he hadn't liked to admit it. "Most girls are just as brainless as they are useless and dumb. You are none of those things obviously, which is why you are one of two current female captains," he finished. Soi Fon could really tell he felt lame. So why say all of that?

"Thanks," she said simply. She didn't feel like any other words were needed. They work in silence for a while, and Soi Fon reads yet another complaint about his womanizing behaviors. She sighs, it was time to solve that. She stood, and goes to the single file cabinet in the room. She unlocked her drawer and pulls out the stack that had accumulated. Grimmjow was watching her, she could feel his eyes boring into her back with curiosity. She added the newest page to the top and slams them on his desk. "It ends, now," she says, glaring at him. He glances at the papers.

"What jealous?" he asks, having the audacity to smirk at her. Rather than responding to the question, she slams her fist on the stack.

"You are setting a bad example for the men in my squad as well as for the other hybrids. Do you think the Captain-Commander is going to allow the others to assimilate if he thinks that all of you are going to be a handful? I'm not your babysitter, and I'm certainly not those women's babysitters, however, when I can accumulate a stack of complaints like this within the short time you've been here, I have to draw the line. It ends." she declares. Grimmjow's eyes narrow.

"I'll do what I want," he says. Soi Fon's glare hardens, none of he squad dared to disobey her orders. And those that did answered to either her fist or her foot. She kicks Grimmjow from behind his desk, his rolling chair gliding across the floor to the corner or the room. He leaps to his feet, furious. He strides across the room, to where Soi Fon was glaring at him with her hands on her hips. At the same time she looked sort of smug. Grimmjow swings a fist at her, which she immediately block and, still holding onto his wrist, crouches to sweep his feet from under him. Grimm jerks his wrist away and jumps to avoid losing his balance, only to have to immediately block another kick from Soi Fon. They battle that way for a while, knocking things over in the office. A shattering sound draws Soi's attention to the shelving behind her desk. There on the ground, her black cat vase was lying in pieces, she paused, horrified, and Grimmjow took that opportunity to grab her by her braid's and slam her face into the wall behind his desk. Another shattering sound proves to be her black cat tea cups. Truly furious, she knees the advancing former Espada in the groin, to which he responds by slamming her face back into the wall and holding her there while he caught his breath from the blow. When he pulls his hand from the side of her head, she slams a fist into his jaw. He knees her in the gut. She leans forward to head butt him, a childish move but effective all the same. And suddenly, they are kissing. He pushes her against the wall roughly, holding her there, and her legs wrap around his waist. He turns and sits her on his desk, and her hands eagerly explore the hard muscle of his arms and chest. And just as suddenly as the kiss started, Grimmjow was gone, and Soi Fon was alone in the room.

_**Okie dokie here you go! Sorry about the long wait, I truly am. I meant to fit in more than just GrimmSoi, but well... they are my favorite Bleach pairing and I wanted them to finally have a bit of...their personal brand of romance. Hope you enjoyed!**_

_**Albinos: I'm so glad you are continuing to read, and I really hope I can continue to bring insight into Lili. I like her as a character and I want her to be able to be more than just the background character she was in the anime and manga. Sorry I made you wait so long...had an off few days, but I hope you enjoy this chapter when you get off work tonight!**_


	13. Shock

_**So I know by the time you guys get this you are gonna be mad at me... cause I'm gonna write all four chapters and do them back to back. It's the only way I can catch up... And I want to be caught up. Now catching up doesn't mean that I won't be doing a chapter per review. I still will be. But it does mean that its going to be a bit before you get your chapters if I get multiple reviews per chapter. So, here goes!**_

Chapter 13...Shock

Coyote woke up with a yawn. He was going to have to get up and be productive starting now. Orihime had approached him and told him about the impending assimilation. And that Yamamoto was watching, and that if he didn't do good and lost the chance to be a captain that she would make him come to Karakura and get a day job that he wouldn't be able to sleep during. A little productivity versus a lot sounded good to him. He showered and dressed for the day and made it to the door just as Lilinette came flying through it. She looked stunned to see him already awake and that she didn't have to beat him up. Almost like for a second she didn't know what to do with herself. The she smiled, and started going on about something or another that Stark immediately tuned out. Stark considered telling her to be quiet when her constant chatter started to become too much, but he remembered the one time he'd told her that before. Not only did he get an earful, but she also tried to beat him up.

When Coyote arrives to check his tasks for the day, he finds only a few small tasks and then a 'Report to Captain'. He does what he's supposed to, parting ways with Lilinette when they were done. Then he goes to Orihime's office and finds Tia waiting as well.

"Ok! You two are gonna head over to your respective new divisions and learn how to do your Captain's stuff! I'd be teaching you if not for the fact that mine's...well different. So go do good jobs and maybe I'll cook us all 4 a yummy dinner!" Orihime exclaims. You could tell that she was envisioning what she wanted to cook. Tia and Coyote both immediately excused themselves from the dinner. They left the office, walking side by side.

"I never want to taste that woman's cooking again," Tia said softly as they walked. Stark nodded, remembering the night after the battle when they'd all temporarily returned to Los Noches. Orihime immediately gone to instruct the cooks on what 'super yummy foods' to make for dinner. All of the arrancar had been a little excited to see what 'good food' was in the physical realm. Unfortunately the mess they'd been served...was awful. There was steaks marinated in sweetened orange juice, mashed potatoes with banana slices, bread slices baked with red bean paste smeared on them, salted and soy sauce covered strawberries and several other horrible creations. And for desert...a huge bowl of vanilla ice cream drenched in hot sauce and cherry tomatoes. And for that night, every arrancar dutifully ate her cooking. And ever since they've avoided any 'super yummy foods' Orihime's had made.

The two share a look, both having been remembering the same thing. They reach the edge of nine, Stark having walked with her all the way there. They paused, and stood silently for a few minutes. "We should...take Lilinette to do something fun sometime," Tia says when they turn to face each other. "Its been a long time since me and you...the three of us I mean, did anything fun together," she said. Stark got the message, she wanted to spend time with him. And he wanted to spend time with her too.

"Lilinette is pretty busy usually. She's planned most of mine and her assimilations. But, I'm free later...if you don't mind going without Lilinette," he said. She nodded at him. "I'll find you later when I've thought of something to do," he tells her, and she heads off. Coyote headed back through the division, and into the offices of 9th. He was greeted by several of the Shinigami there, some even adressing him as Captain already. When he entered the office, he froze. Lilinette was already there...and comfortable.

* * *

_Earlier_

"Bye Stark see you later!" Lili called the minute she finished her tasks. She bolted and hurried over to 9th, easily her favorite place to be. She skipped through the division, being greeted everywhere she went. She walked straight into Hisagi's office, only he wasn't there just yet. She flopped into his seat, spinning around in the chair. After only a few minutes, she grew bored, so she leaned forward and rested her head on his desk. She glanced around at the various things. She saw a little planner book in the corner. It was flipped open to today, and at the bottom was 'Hang out with Matsumotto, Ikkaku, Kira, Renji, and Yumichika at Izakaya'. Lilinette was immediately jealous. Hisagi-kun hadn't invited her to go hang out with him outside of the office but the one time. And here he was, going out that very night, with a couple of friends. To make matters worse, he was going with Rangiku Matsumotto, a girl. He'd even put her first on the list of his friends. Did he like her? She stopped herself before she could think up dangerous things. It wasn't her business. She didn't like him, did she? She sighs.

The door slides open and in walks Hisagi. She leaps from his chair, immediately greeting him. He smiles at her and says hello back, before taking his seat. Lili leans against the edge of his desk. "So what are you doing after hours tonight?" she asks. She fights not to slap herself for being unable to censor her words. Hisagi laughs a little.

"I'm going to the bar with my friends. We all have time tonight and its been a while." he said. Lilinette nodded. Apparently it was word vomit time because Lilinette said something else she shouldn't have.

"Do you think I'm pretty?" she asked. Almost demanded. Shuuhei looked shocked. He seemed to debate the answer. He glanced at her face and saw her biting her lip.

"Yea, you're pretty," he told her finally, looking away. Lilinette blushed. She felt her heart beat increase. Why did it make her so happy he said that. She leaned over, and when he looked back at her, she met his eyes. And then she did the most embarrassing thing she'd done yet that day. She kissed him. Just as Stark walked in. Lilinette pulled away. Her face was on fire. She could see the red even in her nose. Shuuhei looked completely shocked, and a little uncomfortable, and Stark looked a little...angry. Lilinette ran. She jumped out the open window and bolted. She had to go see someone. And since Stark was at 9, she could bet Tia was at 5. So that's where she went.

* * *

Tia was with her soon to be Lieutenant when Lili ran in. Lilinette immediately went over to Tia and hugged her. Tia patted the skull mask she wore. Momo smiled at her and asked what was wrong. And Lili told them. About how she liked Shuuhei but hadn't really realized it, about what she'd just done, and her jealousy over Shuuhei hanging out with his friends and not inviting her, and about how she had just left an angry Stark with her future Lieutenant. And finally, "Now I don't know if Hisagi-kun is going to want me in his division and I don't know if Stark wants me around Hisagi-kun, so can I come be with you?" Lilinette knew Tia would help. She was the protector of women afterall.

"We'd love to have you here!" Momo said kindly. Lilinette glanced at her. This was the girl Aizen had destroyed before he came to them. She looked ok for now. "But you really should talk to them about what happened. Hisagi-san is pretty understanding. And I'm sure Stark-san will be too," she said. Lili looked back at Tia.

"I will go make sure they are not fighting. Hinamori-san, I will be back shortly." Tia says, and she's gone in a buzz of sonido.

Stark still stood in the doorway. Looking at Hisagi expectantly. Hisagi however, was staring out the window Lili had left from. Finally, Hisagi lookes at Stark. "What was that about?" he asks Stark, wondering if the man knew. Stark shrugged.

"Lilinette is short tempered. Watch out," Stark says simply. He'd calmed himself, it wasn't his business if the two of them were seeing each other. Or so he told himself. With just a look at Hisagi's expression, he realized it wasn't the case. And was angered. "Were you leading her on?" he asks. Hisagi shakes his head. "So you don't reciprocate?" he asked. It was becoming an awkward conversation, and one that was exhausting him. It shouldn't bother him, but he and Lili were originally one being and he should take care of her. He knew his last question was a hard one to answer. If Hisagi said no, it would anger him further, if Hisagi said yes, well it would be the same. "Don't answer," Stark said, and sat down at the Captain's desk. He leaned his head on his hands, his elbows on the desk. He glared at the door. Which then opened to reveal Tia. Stark chuckled, wondering what she'd do. If Lili had gone to her, she'd probably be feeling very angry at men now. It was one of those things she did. The woman in all her beauty, slammed her fist on Hisagi's desk. She leaned down, unzipping her jacket to reveal the shark-like bone structure on her face.

"It will be a problem if she is upset. You will behave as if nothing has happened." Her face turned to Stark. "Are you calm?" she asked. Stark nodded. He could tell she was restraining herself. Usually if a woman came crying to her about a man there would be blood spilled. But she was holding back because of the tenuous alliance with the Shinigami. Tia straightened, zipping her jacket back up. She stepped over to Stark and leaned down. "You, me, Lili, and Apache will be going to that bar tonight," she said softly, and buzzed away.

_**Ok, so a little bit of a cliffhanger, but not much considering you will be getting your next 5 chapters all at once, but still, there is computer loading time that will make you wait to see how this all goes down. Off to type the next chapter, and will do review responses at the end of the chapter spree. Later!**_


	14. The Bar

_**And here is the next one! Wohoo I'm getting a lot done today. Sort of. Hopefully I can get this one done today too. Then 3 more and you get to read what I've been writing and making you impatiently wait for! Also, I can't believe I'm already at 14 chapters! It is all thanks to you guys and your words of encouragement, and your prompts to add more details to certain characters. I hope you aren't too angry about the wait I'm giving you. Onward!**_

Chapter 14... The Bar

Tia returned to 5th to see an impatiently waiting Lilinette. "You will return to 14th and let Apache know that the four of us have plans for the evening," she told Lilinette, and the girl headed off. Momo smiled, and stepped over to the Captain's desk to show Tia what it was she was to be doing when she was a Captain.

Evening rolls around, and Tia returns to her barracks at 14th to see both Apache and Lilinette waiting for her. She opens the door to her room and both girls step in. "So what are we doing?" Apache asks. Tia looks at Lilinette.

"What bar is it?" she asks her. Lilinette tells her, realizing what she'd meant. "That's where we are going," she said. Tia tosses something to Lilinette. It was a hooded white dress. "Put that on, Stark would kill me if I let you go to the bar wearing your normal clothing," she said. Lilinette pulls it on, but can't pull up the hood due to her mask. So she moves the mask, down to a ring around her throat. Her little red fire is still there, but turned on its side. The rest of the mask becomes little protrusions along her spine. With the mask gone, her other eye is present. She pulls the hood up and deems herself ready to go. Tia and Apache go as they are.

They meet up with Stark at the edge of the division and all head to the Izakaya. They go in, and choose a table in the less crowded side of the bar. A plate of little snacks is put on the table and they order. Stark gets a beer, and Tia gets sake for the girls. Raucous laughter draws Lili's attention to the group in the corner. Shuuhei, the 6th guy, the two 11th guys, and the 3rd Lieutenant were all laughing together. No Rangiku. Lili glances around to see if maybe she'd gone to get more drinks. At that moment, Rangiku enters , laughing and clutching the arm of the 3rd Captain. Lili looks at the corner group. Shuuhei's face looked strained for a moment, then he tries to look like he's having fun with his friends. So it was as she'd thought, Shuuhei did like Rangiku. Lili sighed, and turned to her table, taking a sip of the cup she was handed. Maybe she could have still have fun even though she was upset.

* * *

It was an hour or so after Rangiku had arrived. Shuuhei was now only pretending to enjoy himself. And meanwhile everyone else in the group had just gone with the sudden change. He glanced over at the quieter section of the bar, sort of wishing he could go over there and be alone. He caught sight of Stark, Tia, Tia's former fraccion, and the back of a girl in a hooded white dress. It must have been another of Tia's former fraccion, because Lilinette's horn wouldn't have allowed her to wear a hood. That's what he'd been thinking until the hybrid girl jumped down and headed to the bar. He saw her face then, it was Lilinette. But her mask was now a bone collar around her neck. "They can do that?" he asked out loud. Everyone turned to see what he was talking about, confused. "The hybrids. They can move their masks?" he clarified. Gin nodded.

"It takes 'em a bit o' concentration and its usually uncomfortable for 'em though," he says. Gin looks around to see which hybrid had moved theirs. Shuuhei points to Lili up at the bar. "Interestin'" he said. "Usually the weaker ones can' do it," he said.

"Lili's been training with me and Stark trying to get stronger," Shuuhei said absently. He thought back to earlier. And shook it out of his head. He noticed everyone staring at him. "What?" he asked. Did he say something wrong?

"You've been training with one of the hybrids and you didn't even tell us?" Rangiku asks, pouting. She hadn't hit her binge limit yet apparently. "What's it like? Do you feel like they are your enemy when you try to train with them?" she asks. Shuuhei shakes his head.

"With some of them it could be like that I guess, but Lili isn't my enemy," he says. He sees her glance over at their table when she reaches hers. He waves her over. She smiles at him and sets the bottles she'd brought on her table and heads over. Shuuhei sees Tia and Stark glance at each other. Lilinette reaches the table and says hi to everybody. With a personality like hers it must be hard to be shy. Shuuhei grabs a nearby stool and set it by his seat for her to sit down. She glances at him questioningly but doesn't say anything. She drops the hood and lets her concentration break for a minute. She was starting to get tired from concentrating so hard. Her mask moves back up to the top of her head and she smiles at everyone. They all just watched silently. "Does it hurt when you move it?" Rangiku asks to break the silence. Lilinette shakes her head, taking a sip of the drink she was handed. The rest of the table begins to chat again and Lili turns to Shuuhei.

"You sure you don't mind me being over here?" she asks softly. He shakes his head no at her. "Even after what I did? I understand why that was wrong now," she said, glancing at the happily drinking 10th Lieutenant.

"Its not wrong to kiss someone you like," Shuuhei finally replied. "Its just not something you do til you know they like you back," he told her just as quietly, glancing wistfully at Rangiku.

"I'm sorry, I should have asked whether you actually liked me first then. Its ok, I'm not gonna push it. I know your reasons. And I don't compare. I'm still child-size," Lilinette says, managing to smile. Shuuhei frowned at her, about to say something when Rangiku interrupts.

"What'cha guys talking about?!" she asks. Her drunk starting to show. Gin chuckles at his woman. Lili and Shuuhei share a glance, and Shuuhei says "9th stuff." Everyone at the table boos the 'workaholics'. Kira finally pipes up with something to say.

"Now just because we have a newcomer doesn't mean you can break the rules Hisagi-kun," he says, his face giving away the amount of alcohol he'd had. "No talk of...work," he said. Gin glances at Kira.

"Are ya gonna be ok tomorrow Kira?" he asks the blonde. Kira tries to nodd, but begins to slide off of his seat. Gin grabs ahold of the sleeve of Kira's shihakusho and stands. "I guess it's already time fer us ta go. Ran," Gin says. The busty lieutenant stands and waves goodbye to her group of friends. Then it was just the 4 of them. Lili glances over where her group had been to find them gone as well. She groans. Shuuhei followes her glance.

"I'll take you home," he said. She nodds. They stay for a bit longer, Lili managing to get a little tipsy from her sip here sip there behavior. And Yumichikka and Ikkaku get into a competition as to who can drink the most. There were plenty of people around that could take them home later, so Shuuhei and Lili head back towards 14th. Lili was quiet. "So does having drank change your behavior or is it that you don't know what to say to me that's making you be quieter than ever?" he asks her. She didn't answer. "So it is me," he says. Lili glances at him sharply.

"Well what am I supposed to say?" she asks, turning to glare at him with her hands on her hips. "Am I supposed to ask you how long you've liked her? Am I supposed to pretend that it doesn't bother me that I pick someone to like that's pining over a taken woman? Men are stupid," Lilinette says, stomping ahead. Shuuhei catches up to her and puts his hand on her shoulder to stop her.

"And girls need to ask when they want something instead of just taking it. Including the hearts of men," he said, Lili rolls her eyes.

"You probably threw it at her," she said, glaring. Shuuhei shrugs. He walks forward. They continue in silence for a few minutes.

"I'll get over her eventually," he said. "Not that I could tell you when that's gonna be," he adds. Lilinette rolls her eyes.

"Like I'm gonna wait. Women take what they want right?" she asks. He turns to her confused, and she gets on her toes, kissing him again. He does nothing for a minute, then decides to kiss her back. There wasn't any harm in getting over Rangiku. There was harm however, in the low power cero that was shot at him. He saw it coming, grabbed Lili and rolled. There were no more cero. It was a clear message from Stark. Lili smiled at Shuuhei, and grabbed his arm, encouraging him to continue on in walking her home.

* * *

Stark and Tia watched the duo walking back to 14th. "I don't like it," he told her. She scoffed. "I don't see why you think it's ok. He's physically older than her."

"I don't see why it could hurt," she told him. The two sat down on the roof top they were on. Tentatively, Tia leans on his shoulder thankful for not having to worry about digging her mask into the soft tissues there. She'd moved her own mask 20 minutes ago, so that the conversation she'd been having with Stark wasn't muffled. Stark puts his arm around Tia's shoulders.

"Its been a while since we've made time to be together like this," Stark says. Tia nods. She buries her face in his neck and places a little kiss there. Stark pulls her face up to meet his. After a bit, they stand, and make their way to Tia's room. They would stay there the rest of the night.

_**Awesome, I got two done. Yes they are a little shorter, and yes I did get Lili and Hisagi together at the same time I revealed Tia and Stark have shared something in the past. I'm trying to squeeze in every ounce of fluff I can, because next chapter the action begins. Later!**_


	15. Assimilate

_**And for another chapter! Hope you guys enjoyed those little bits of fluff, cause this chapter is where everything gets going. So buckle your seatbelts, here's where shit gets crazy. And do enjoy! **_

Chapter 15...Assimilate

Today was the day. Yamamoto had finally given the order. Orihime calls her whole squad to assemble. She holds in her hand the list of who was to go where. Yamamoto had given her original list to each Captain and they'd confirmed and denied until they finally had a list of which hybrid went where. She smiled at everyone before her. "Its the big day everyone. Now originally, the 5 and 9 Captain choices were supposed to go first, but due to...circumstances, you all get to go at once!" she told them. It wasn't a big deal, really. One little accident, and Yamamoto was ready to ship her back to the world of the living. Maybe it was better this way. Still, she hadn't meant to knock over the ink well. And certainly not all over his just completed massive pile of reports. And definitely not to knock a second one on him. But really, just because they'd picked a date to send Tia and Stark didn't mean they had to shake hands like it was some business deal. She brought her mind sharply back to reality. This was the last day she was completely responsible for hundreds of lives after all. From then on, she'd be their Hollow Queen, but they would be safely in the hands of Soul Society. "I'll start at the top!" she declares. She glanced around at all of the faces, including those recalled from the physical world. "Lieutenant Schiffer, will be guarding me in Karakura," surprisingly there were a lot of nods of approval. Even now, her hybrids still loved her. She was glad. "3rd Seat Grimmjow has already been placed in 2, 4th seat Stark, Captain of 9, 5th Seat Halibel, Captain of 5, 6th seat Neliel, placement in Los Noches, 7th seat Nnoitra, placement in Los Noches," she said continuing. Lilinette went to 9, Halibel took her 3 with her, Tesla goes with Nnoitra, Mosqueda (a former privaron Espada) returns to Los Noches as well, and Loly and Menoly are both placed in 10.

With the reading of the list completed, everyone is dismissed to pack their belongings. Orihime was practically skipping as her and Ulquiorra went to her room to gather her things. Ulquiorra had collected nothing in his time there, so it wasn't an issue for him. There were lines of boxes down the hallways of the barracks, and Orihime took a few and packed everything from her brother's shrine, her clothing, all of the pictures Ichigo had brought her, and several other things. Ulquiorra took two of the boxes, and Orihime carried the third. The duo made their way to the nearest entrance Senkai gate. While they would be traveling through Ulquiorra's garganta, it made sense to leave at a Senkai gate, for formality purposes. Tia, Grimmjow, and Stark were all waiting for her there, as well as Yamamoto. Orihime took off her Captain's robe there, holding it out to the  
Captain-Commander. She was then blatantly told to keep it, he had no use for it. Keeping the item made Orihime smile, right before she burst into tears and hugged the other 3 hybrids present.

"Schiffer, you will meet up with Urahara and obtain a gigai. Your presence in spirit form would draw too many hollow to the area. Ulquiorra nodded, and snapped his fingers, tearing a hole to the physical world. He and Orihime went through, carrying her things. They went to Orihime's old apartment, and set everything down. Orihime opened closet and showed Ulquiorra where she kept the futon for guests to sleep on.

"If you want, you can use my bed and I'll sleep on the futon though!" she said. Ulquiorra shook his head. "Its no problem at all! I like the futon better anyways!" she exclaims.

"Woman, you will sleep in your bed, in your room," he told her. He sat down on her couch, and she went to her fridge. She had to throw everything in it away after all. She sighed. They needed to go shopping. Thankfully, Ichigo had brought in the mail for her, and all of the checks from her aunt were sitting in a nice neat stack. She grabbed two of them, deciding to fill the fridge and the cabinets, as well as get some new sheets for Ulquiorra's futon.

"Ok, we'll go to Kisuke's first and get your gigai so you can help carry groceries," she said, and Ulquiorra stood. They took the shuttle most of the way there, and walked the rest. They were greeted at the door by Tessai who took them back to where Kisuke, Yoroichi and the whole gang were waiting. Including Tatsuki. The two girls embrace, and everyone immediately greets her and starts to talk. She glances back at Ulquiorra and notes that he stepped over to have a word with Urahara who then disappeared in the back. He came back with a gigai and clothing and Ulquiorra met Orihime's eyes before he stepped into the bathroom to put on the gigai and dress. He came out wearing dark blue jeans, and a black t-shirt. He still had his black hair and vibrant green eyes, and was just at pale as ever, but no mask and no tear marks. Orihime nearly blushed at thinking of how handsome he was in normal clothing. After a while, Orihime excused herself to go do her shopping, and Tatsuki invited herself along to help. They stop on the way for Orihime to cash her checks and then they go to the store. While Orihime was tossing a bunch of things in the cart, Tatsuki stopped Ulquiorra.

"Do you cook?" she asks him. Ulquiorra debated whether or not to answer the girl, but Orihime was already turning the next corner and escaping his eyesight. He started walking, answering the short haired woman anyways.

"I can," he said. He didn't enjoy it, as he enjoyed nothing he did, but he knew how, and had done it before to make sure that Orihime received all of her meals and that Loly and Menoly hadn't been able to poison them. Tatsuki seemed to accept that answer.

"Then you better make sure she's eating right. Don't let her cook for herself, she'll get sick from the way she eats," she said. Ulquiorra wondered at why the woman was so insistent that she care for the Onna's health. Of course he would care for her. It was his duty. He merely nodded in response to the woman, and hurried back to Orihime's side.

* * *

Unohana was rather impressed with the medically inclined hybrids she received. They were good solid workers, and unlike some of her shinigami medics, the hybrids had absolutely no fear of the bloodier cases. Which was why they were immediately given charge of the Kato case. The girl just kept bleeding. If she wasn't vomiting blood, she was having nosebleeds. They were fighting just to keep enough blood in her system while they tried to figure out the problem. And what was worse, was there was now another person sick. Mito from 5th division was in with the same incurable fever Kato's started out as. At first, Unohana hadn't realized the connection, but then when checking the report on Kato's pickup in 5th, she realized Mito had come in direct contact with the girl. So not only was the illness incurable thus far, it was also contatgious. Which meant that she had the hybrids she sent had to be wearing full-bodied medical suits, face masks, and gloves. She'd sent word to 12th to send someone over to take some samples of Kato's blood and other such things they would need to come up with a cure. Now she was waiting on results.

She feels the fluctuation of reiatsu before the man enters her office. Kenpachi walked in, injured as usual. But wearing a satisfied grin. The hybrids were to be kept away from 11th so she wasn't sure who he could have fought that would make him smile that way. She asked him. "That Nnoitra guy paid me a visit before him and the rest of the arrancar that should have been on my squad left for Los Noches. Now the Nnoitra guy was no match for me, but hurting him sure pissed off that Nel chick," he said with a laugh. He dropped the top of his shihakusho to reveal extensive burns across his chest, as well as a few deep cuts and some bruising. Unohana sighed, he'd given her quite the healing workload, and she was tired. Kenpachi chuckled at something, and Unohana gave him a questioning look. "I was just thinking about when she'd had Nnoitra fire a cero at her. I was sort of confused, but then she fired it back at me and it was way more powerful than Nnoitra's." Kenpachi told her. Unohana sighed.

"Its called a Cero Doble, and if you'd paid any attention to the hybrid ability charts that were sent around you'd have known she was capable of that. The only other similar Cero is her former fraccion, who were to stay behind in Los Noches. They were the only ones watching the old palace til now." she said. She set to work on closing up the cuts, and healing up some of the burns. "I'm afraid Minazuki is going to have to eat you." she says. Kenpachi shakes his head. He always refused to allow her zanpakuto to swallow him. Why he wouldn't was beyond her. Nonetheless, she released her zanpakuto, and Minazuki appeared outside the window. She opened her huge mouth and Unohana grabbed Kenpachi's arm, pulling him to the window. The man began to struggle, and Unohana glared at him. "I don't have to treat you at all, I could let you die," she said in all seriousness. Kenpachi blinked at her sudden change in demeanor and that was long enough for Unohana to throw him out the window and to be swallowed by Minazuki. She closes the window and sits down to rest.

_**Ok I guess all of these are gonna be a little under my chapter goals, but I want to get them out as fast as possible and I can't really think of anything else to put in this chapter. Hope you enjoyed, and in 2 more days (roughly) you should be getting all 5 of these chapters! Later!**_


	16. The Night

_**Here is 16, and 4 of 5 on my chapter before updates count. I'm sure you have all sort of guessed that the plot has something to do with the Kato girl, as well as giving me filler for my Unohana chapters, but here we go, plot started rolling last chapter and now is speeding down the hill. Analogy time over, her's your next chapter.**_

Chapter 16...The Night

It was dark in the hospital room. There were two beds, and a little bin on the door that held patient charts. Two heartbeat monitors were in the room making steady sounds. A line of light would brighten the room for a few seconds every few minutes as the hybrids in charge of this case would make sure there were no changes. They'd finally injected the more violent of the two cases with a sleeping serum the hybrids used on each other. It was the only sedative strong enough to put the poor girl out. With her unconscious, they were finally able to set up two Ivs. One giving her blood and the other feeding her sugars and proteins so she'd start producing blood herself. On the other side of the room, the male patient rolled in his feverish sleep. Light floods the room, and a hazard suited hybrid stepped in to check Ivs on both patients. The door shuts quietly behind him. In the silence that followed, only broken by the beeping of the monitors, the girl patient sat up. Her head turns left, then right, and she stands. Needles and cords fall to the floor, and the beeping monitor beside her goes code blue. Wordlessly, the girl opens the window, and drops out.

* * *

It was approximately 1:45 in the morning when Unohana was woken. She dresses and hurries to the scene. The only signs left of the girl was the few drops of blood on the floor and the mess on her sheets from where she'd been sweating blood. Another few drops of blood outside below the window where the girl had jumped out, and then nothing. Unohana gave the word to set an alert, and then released her zanpakuto. She would fly on Minazuki to search. She stepped on to the manta ray's back and it flys off as the wood blocks in fourth are being tapped, waking everyone in 4th. Hell butterflies are sent around to the Captains to have them send out search parties. Particularly in and around 4th and 6th. Groups of 2 and 3 tired Shinigami and hybrids walk through the streets below the Captain and her zanpakuto.

* * *

In a quiet alley, hides a girl. She was crouched down, holding her head. Beside her was the zanpakuto she'd retrieved from her division. Her zanpakuto's voice was telling her to kill. She was confused, because she had a normally peaceful spirit. She didn't want to hurt people. But still, against her wishes, her hand gripped the sword, and pulled it from it's sheathe. The voice was screaming at her by now. She stood, her eyes blank. She walks forward from the darkened alley. She was in the outskirts of 7, where she'd hidden. She knew most of the search parties where in and around 4th through 6th. But she knew the would expand soon. She ducks back into the alley as a shadow passed by. The 4th Captain. She slipped quietly away, and back to 6th. She hides every time a patrol goes through. She sneaks into the division offices. Now that she had no control of her body the command was no longer just to kill. It was to kill a certain person. She tucks into the shadows as that very person left their office. She slips out silently, following them. And just when they are not paying attention, she strikes.

Blood spatters to the ground. It's not his. Not the Lieutenant she'd been told to kill. It was hers. The redheaded man looked just as shocked as her. He grabbed her, and called for 4th. He puts his hands over the cut he'd made across her stomach. Then he recognizes her. And looks confused. Just as she's about to fight the voices in her head and speak, to apologize, searing agony hits her head. She clutches the sides of her face screaming. Her body jolts, and she goes limp.

Renji checks the girls pulse. It was nonexistent. She was dead. Blood dripped from behind her eyes. When Unohana arrives, he is told to carefully remove his clothing so not to get blood on himself. He does so, changing into a fresh shihakusho and goes back to the scene. He gives his report and is dismissed.

* * *

Hours later, Unohana is autopsying the body. Everywhere she looked the girl had no anomalies. Except for the slash to the gut there was no reason she'd died. Finally, Unohana cuts open the girl's head. She had to leap backwards quickly. A sickly looking mass flowed from the girl skull. Her brain had for some reason completely liquified. Whatever the reason, she wouldn't find the answers in the dead girl. It was in the next ill person.

* * *

The all clear is given, and a butterfly is sent to all of the Captain's and Lieutenant's with the information Unohana had uncovered. Soi Fon shuddered. It was sickening to think that what had started as a fever ended up that way. She returned to her office, and shut off the lights after making sure things were in perfect order. Grimmjow was leaning against the door when she turned around. She didn't want to look at him after that morning. "What is it Jeagerjacks?" she asks. She stares at him coldly. This of course was the part where he said he'd merely been turned on by the violence, and that it wouldn't happen again. And that was probably for the best. But that didn't mean it didn't suck. Years without a partner is incredibly lonely. Especially when that potential partner was an incredibly sexy blue haired panther.

"Wanted to apologize for my behavior as of late. I'll try to make a better expression," he said. Something about his voice...and the fact that he'd said a word wrong. Her Lieutenant had been drinking. He looked for the most part sober now, and it wasn't her business what he did after hours. She nodded. "And this morning... yer pretty when yer pissed," he says, stumbling out the door. He was gone before she could bring herself to move to the door. Stupid hybrid. Even in the midst of a strange event, that bastard managed to make her heart flutter. And that was something she just couldn't have. She beat down the feelings that had risen and went to her room for the night, locking herself in.

_**Ok guys I had been hoping to get these out sooner and I know you are all probably upset at me but a lots been going on. I'm going to hopefully have a little more time now so we will see about updating more often. Anyways that's all for this chapter. **_


	17. After Effects

_**Last one, yay! You get to read them soon! So I got certified as an hourly manager yesterday, as well as completely cutting off anything I've ever had with someone I really did care about. Just not as much as I used to. So I'm kind of mopey about that but really happy about my promotion. And so tired I can barely stay awake. My spinal problems are acting up so its a lay in bed and type til work kind of day. Lucky for you guys. **_

Chapter 17...After Effects

Neliel walked around the ruins of Los Noches. It was depressing really. It had really been a grand palace, but it lacked happiness. Maybe she could rebuild part of it. Make it much smaller. Use the materials that were still undamaged to fix it up. She quickly found the least damaged area. The section of the palace for the servant arrancar. Of course it would still be safe from harm. Mostly. There were loose stones in the walls from the tremors that had shaken the whole building. That was easily fixeable. She quickly assigned rooms to all of the lesser. Nnoitra was no where to be seen and neither was Tesla. Of course they'd gone to pilfer through their rooms again most likely... and everyone else's rooms. Nel understood the need to send her with the more violent hybrids, but it didn't make it any less of a trouble. Still, considering Tia was stronger than her, she was the only one stronger than Nnoitra that wasn't going to be a captain, and could control the hybrids.

She enters a room and tosses her bags in the corner. She sought out the spiritual pressure of her friends. And followed the hallways to them. Of course her friends had taken the most posh area for themselves. She walked into Aizen's old bedroom and leans against the door frame. Immediately her friends leapt from their seats where they'd been chatting, and ran to greet her. She smiled, embracing them. They told her of the occasional straggler hollow coming to be hollowified. How they'd been turned away, and had left. It was still troubling though. That hollow still wanted this life. Maybe they could break their own masks when they were strong enough. Not that she would encourage that. It could seem like an act of war against the Shinigami. She and her friends went back to the part of the palace where the other hybrids were staying and assembled them. She gave orders for the palace to be thoroughly searched the next day to flush out any hiding hollow who'd taken residence there. After that, they would begin reconstruction.

Construction meant adding more cement and sliding bricks back into place at first. Then there would be a big kitchen, a formal dining room, and other such things that were in the rest of the palace but not around there. And she planned to paint everything. Besides her resident hybrids, any visting hybrid or Shinigami would have their choice of a room in a different theme or color. Something exciting. And the work meant something for the hybrids to do, since they were practically in exile for being too battle loving. Besides her anyways. She was in exile to make sure that Nnoitra didn't 'stage a coup' against Soul Society. Which was ridiculous. It would never happen, since the Hollow Queen liked Soul Society.

* * *

Nnoitra sat in his old room. Or what was left. After all, the Espada and fraccion rooms were in the towers in the 'Daylight' part of the palace. And that was where all of the damage from Ichigo and Ulquiorra's fight had centered. Tesla was down below in his room. Which was fine. Tesla didn't need to see him thinking about the past. He really did miss being on top like that. Sure he wasn't the strongest, but people shivered when he walked by. That was something he'd miss. But what Orihime had done, by saving him from the nothingness, was something he could never forget. Santa Theresa wouldn't let him either. The zanpakuto hummed beside him. Nnoitra sighed, it was probably time to go see what Neliel was up to. After all, he was there to make sure she didn't go around acting like a child and getting people hurt.

* * *

Renji woke up the next morning and went about the motions of his day. He couldn't get what had happened with the girl out of his head. When Unohana had told him that whatever sickness she'd had was transferred through blood he'd almost panicked. But he'd been lucky not to get blood on him. But what about the next person? There was already someone from 5th infected. And if that guy went crazy like Kato did, then he would have to be killed too. Who would he get blood on? Renji had to physically shake his head to chase away the thoughts. He had work to do.

Evening rolled around, and Renji was finally dismissed for the day. He walks to the place Rukia had agreed to meet him at. It had taken a little while, but Rukia had finally convinced him to come hang out with her again. Even though he didn't know where they stood anymore, he was really anxious to see her. He tried to not be so happy that they were going to be seeing each other. Seeing each other meant something different to Rukia. He paused at the door of their favorite restaurant. He was glad she'd picked a public place. He steps in and immediately spots her. He would never be able to overlook her. He makes his way to where she was sitting and slid into the booth in front of her. They order and sit in silence for a while. Rukia was the first to attempt conversation. It was only inane questions like how was your day, and what was your paperwork like. Finally he couldn't stand it anymore. His heart already hurt enough over this. It was time he figured out what she wanted.

"Rukia." He said, stopping her. She looked up shocked. He had to admit, his voice had been rather harsh. "Why did you ask me to come here?" he asks. She drops her eyes to the table and she watches her hands.

"I wanted to see you. I don't want to be without you just because nii-sama won't let us be together. You aren't being very fair. We've been friends since we were children in the rukon and you're going to throw it all away because I had to tell you no," she said. The entire time she spoke she didn't look at him. Renji scoffed.

"You keep talking like it really mattered anyways. You don't care about me the way I care about you. Sure I'm your friend but that's about as far as it goes isn't it Rukia? We both know it. You can't just pull me along as your friend. It hurts having to sit there and pretend I don't care about you just so you can have everything perfect in your world." Renji tells her. Of course she'd only come to see her pathetic friend. He should have known better. Renji stood.

"Renji..." she said. It was enough to make him pause. Her voice... she sounded hurt. He had been a little harsh hadn't he? Again. He sighed. Maybe he should just walk away. He turned to the side to step out of the booth. Her hand locked around his wrist. "Don't you dare leave," she growls, still looking down at the table. He started to pull his hand away.

"Why, why should I stay?" he questioned. He shook her hand off of his wrist. He almost didn't see her move, but suddenly she was practically standing on the table. That wasn't the really shocking thing. What was, was that she was suddenly kissing him. She pulls away, and gets off of the table.

"You...You know nothing," she says, and flash steps away. Renji stayed where he was, stunned. He dropped money on the table, and walked out of the restaurant. Rukia was no where to be found of course. He just walks back to his division, deciding to go to bed for the night.

_**Ok so here you guys go! Number 5 meaning I'm about to upload for you! I hope you aren't too mad about the wait. Hope you enjoyed them and be sure to leave me a review and let me know! I even threw in a soft moment for Nnoitra. Probably the only one he will have. Even when he does finally somehow pair up lol.**_

_** : Sorry about the Lilinette thing. I'm generally more of the quiet character type. So its a new experience to try and do some energetic characters. I do hope you enjoyed the few chapters I've posted and hope Lili is at least a little more in character. **_

_**Albinos: Yea, I always want to do a little reading before bed... I just get too tired most of the time. The rebellion was within the hive... sorry if that wasn't clear. It was just something to show that Soi's job doesn't just lie within the division. She's responsible for a whole prison cell and prison cells have violence. Anyways hope you liked the chapters. **_


	18. Drink to Health

_**Wow I can't believe I'm on chapter 18 already... makes me proud of where I'm going as an author that you guys like my story enough to take it this far. On that note, thank you to Albinos for more reviews, here's the chapter!**_

Chapter 18... Drink to Health

Kyouraku was reading the official autopsy report that had been sent around the day after the 6th girl had gone crazy and had been killed. Alongside the report was a list of signs to look for in any ill division members, and if a member had more than 1 of the symptoms they needed to be sent immediately to 4th for quarantine. Also, if the signs went unnoticed and a member went crazed, then bloodshed was to be avoided at all costs.

Kyouraku sighed. An infectious illness that eventually melted the brain was just what the Seireitei needed so soon after the Aizen war. Could they have no peace? Nanao walks into the office and sets her book on her desk. She moves to stand in front of his, and holds out a hand. Kyouraku hands her the reports and reaches into his desk drawer. He pulls out a bottle of sake and two cups, pouring one for each of them. She sets the report down, and with a sigh, takes the cup. "To good health eh Nanao?" he says, tipping it back. She nods solemnly and follows suit.

Nanao sits at her desk with a paper in front of her. She writes out a symptoms list and instructions and takes it to the file room. She sets it in front of the girl that was in there. "Make copies and have them posted throughout the division. We don't want this spreading any further." she said. The girl nods and sets about copying the document. Nanao returns to the office to get her paperwork for the day done.

* * *

Rangiku was working on her paperwork. Sort of. She kept making sighing noises, and tapping her writing utensil on the desk and doing all of the things she knew annoyed Hitsuguya...She was trying to get him to leave the room so she could retrieve her sake from the drawer. She could tell all of the noises were getting on his nerves. But she also knew he was determined to make sure she did her paperwork. She tried to think of what else she could do. Pretending to fall asleep would make him wake her up, and then stay longer, whipping out the bottle would get her chased through the division. Finally, she set her nails up against the wood grain of her desk, and started scratching it. Like a cat honing her nails. After a minute, the grating sound finally got to him.

He stood, stomped to the door, and flung it open. He glanced back at her and smirked, before leaving. Rangiku's eyes narrowed. She heard a click. Something new. She dashed to the door to find herself locked in from the outside. She ran to the windows next but Hitsuguya's smirking face kept beating her to each window. She was trapped inside her office. Oh how miserable. She could always break out of course, but any damage she did would come directly from her paycheck and Hitsuguya would probably make her fix it herself. She sighed, at least she had her sake.

She froze. Hitsugya wouldn't smirk about locking her in. He would be serious about it because it meant she had nothing better to do than her paperwork. She returned to her desk and flopped heavily in her seat. She pulled open her desk drawer to find it...empty. She leapt up, and searched Hitsuguya's desk, then the small supply closet, then the filing cabinets. She checked under the couch and even behind everything. Finally, cautiously, she stepped over to the bookshelf. She glances out each window, making sure they are void of a cruel blonde captain, and pulls the whole shelving unit forward. She crouches down and pulls a little string attached to one of the boards. A long time ago, her and Captain Shiba had made this cubby to hide it from Hitsuguya. The board gives a soft scraping sound and finally pops free. This place too was empty. Hitsuguya had thought of everything.

Rangiku goes to the window and calls a Hell Butterfly. She gives it its message and sends if off to Gin. Finally, she returns to her desk, and pulls her paperwork towards her. Nothing she could do til Gin arrived anyways.

* * *

Hitsuguya, in a break of his usual demeaner, had to fight his amusement. He'd been watching from a safe distance Rangiku's frantic search. He saw the butterfly she'd sent too, and moved to intercept it. Carefully catching the fragile being, he received its message. "Captain Ichimaru, I've decided to stay in and do my paperwork, and will not be drinking with you this evening. I do hope you understand," Hitsuguya's eyes narrowed. He'd expected a rescue me. He let the butterfly go, considering Rangiku had sat down and begun her paperwork and wasn't even sighing anymore. After a few minutes, he left to get some much needed rest.

* * *

Gin was just turning out the lights in his office when a butterfly drifted through the slats in the window. He reached out a finger for it to land. The butterfly looked like it'd been intercepted, an unusual thing. He got his message, and his face formed into confusion. She'd called him Captain, said she'd decided to do paperwork. And finally an 'I do hope you understand'. Maybe he should pay her a visit. It didn't sound like his Rangiku. It sounded like a message Toshiro would send in her place. He stepped from his office, a bottle of sake in his hand in case the child like captain had stolen hers again, and made his way to the 10th division. He stepped through the halls to find all of the 10th division memebers on evening patrol smiling or chuckling, amused. He steps into the office building, and the member on patrol in there stopped him. "Sir, I was given orders you were to be kept away from the office tonight," he said, nervously.

"Oh really?" Gin asks, opening his eyes just a little. Enough to show the red color. It was always scary when the ever smiling captain opened his eyes. The member began to break in their resolve. "Please, step aside," he said. He wrapped the man in his spiritual pressure. Scaring him was both a funner and better way to move the man, than to either convince him that Hitsuguya had changed his mind, or that he should go ask Hitsuguya to let him in for some reason. Finally, the man bolted and Gin continued. He found a padlock on the door to the office. He busted it with a low power kido spell. The minute he stepped through the door, Rangiku was running towards him. She immediately told him what had happened and Gin had had to admit it was pretty cunning and well thought out. Nonetheless, he tossed an arm over Rangiku's shoulders, and they walked out of the office together. It was only about 10 pages left to do anyways.

* * *

Ikkaku was buying today apparently. Perhaps it was because he was drunk that he kept shouting 'another round on me'! Or maybe he'd had a really good fight. Either way, no one was passing up free drinks. Because once Rangiku arrived, drink prices doubled, and no one was going to pay for Rangiku but Gin. Renji was there, looking miserable as usual, and Yumichika was muttering the usual about ugly people. Shuuhei was there with Lilinette the girl finally comfortable with the group and back to her usual loud antics. She'd even demonstrated on a passed out drunk how he had to wake Starrk on some days and well...Shuuhei hoped he was never asleep when she didn't want him to be. Suddenly a hush fell over the crowd, but only for a moment, Ikkaku made a sign to the bartender, cutting off the free drinks. Rangiku had obviously arrived. Quickly, the chalk sign was changed, prices jumping up. If they didn't Rangiku would drink them out of a job. Several people left which wasn't unusual.

"Hey how's it going everyone!" Rangiku exclaims. Gin held in his hand an empty bottle of sake, not that that had done anything for the busty woman. She waves at the bartender, who brings a large jug out to her. The group had playfully named the jug a 'Matsumug' because she always drank them by herself. She took the cup she was given and started in on it. How the woman could handle so much alcohol was crazy, let alone how she could continue to drink daily. She'd be the first Shinigami to drink herself to death for sure.

It was probably about 4 hours later that the whole group was drunk, including Rangiku. The busty woman was currently standing up on a table yelling about how only losers try to cut people off, while holding a bottle out of Gin's reach so he couldn't stop her drinking. Shuuhei was trying to wake up a sleeping Lilinette so he could take her home, Ikkaku had been kicked out 30 minutes prior for a bar fight, taking Yumichika with him, and Renji was still moping about. He sat by Kira, who always looked sad. Upon seeing this, Rangiku immediately began to tease them about it.

_**Ok so I know I've been doing some shorter chapters lately and I'm trying to make them longer, but I really don't want to make things boring. I've tried to put a little space between the beginning of the plot and the continuation so that it doesn't seem like its just action. I hope that's ok. Next chapter will be back to the action, I promise. **_

_**Albinos: To the first of your 2 reviews, yes, it is a mysterious virus. Can't wait to really starting letting it spread. But easy does it, can't make it go too fast can I lol. And about Soi Fon yea, she is way too serious, but Yoroichi did practically shred the poor girls heart, hopes, and dreams, lol. And yes, her black cat obsession is absolutely hilarious. As for part 2 of your reviews, no I really don't plan to have Nnoitra have many soft moments. But I wanted to bring to light the fact that he even for a complete asshole he still has to miss being 'on top'. And I'm trying really hard to keep all of my characters in character. Even Ulquiorra, which is pretty hard to get my 3 serious couples together, that being UlquiHime, SoiGrimm, and NnoiNel. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!**_


	19. Spread

_**Oh goodness I'm sorry guys. I didn't mean to wait so long to even start the update. But I've been packing up and getting ready to move again. Me, my parents and my sister are all moving in pretty much opposite directions lol. But we aren't going far. And when I haven't been packing to move I've been hanging out with this guy I really like that makes me feel happy inside by him just looking at me or putting his hand on mine or stuff like that. Its crazy how happy he's making me. And he's not even really trying lol. Sorry to gush, but I haven't really been too happy for over a year or so. So you can hopefully expect better fluff when its there. Hopefully lol. Onward!**_

Chapter 19...Spread

Unohana was beginning to relax. Mito's fever had gone down, and was staying down. There wasn't any bleeding and he wasn't fighting any impulses other than to rapidly eat everything put before him. The hybrids that were taking care of him hadn't had any symptoms yet, and it looked like the whole ordeal was just a fluke illness that she'd stamped out before it could really start. At least Mayuri had finally got the cure right. The poor 5th division man had been scared out of his wits when the 12th captain had made his way into the room to examine the man. After taking his own blood samples, Mayuri had finally left. Thirty minutes later and there were two pills delivered.

They were a dark purple, with little numbers on one side just like with any other pill. It was almost comical to the serene woman how one little pill could supposedly cure an illness that took over the body of the one who was ill with it. Unohana had given the man the pills with some water and he had rapidly improved.

_**3 Days later **_

Mito was signing his release papers back to 5th. He'd been given a clear bill of health. Whatever had killed that poor 6th division girl was out of his system. He wasn't going to die. He thought about the day, wondering what he was going to be doing that day when he back. He thought about it for a moment. It was a Thursday so it was his group's training day. He left the 4th medical stations headed to 5th's training fields. He reported in and his training officer greeted him. The others in his group seemed glad to see that he was okay and he was immediately given a spot to begin. It wasn't hard to understand why everyone was so happy. After all, everyone by now had heard about what had happened to that 6th girl. About how she'd gone crazy and tried to kill her Lieutenant. And about how whatever illness they'd had had melted her brain.

It was later that evening, when he was lying in his bed that night, that Mito jolted awake. He sat straight up and then had to clutch his head. His head was searing with agony. Pressure continued to build in his head and then he felt a something sort of like a pop. His body fell limp, then rose without his telling it to. _'Kill,' _the voice of his zanpakuto told them. _'Its what you are, a killer, do it, you'll feel better. Kill, kill them all,'_. Mito stood. If killing was what it took to rid himself of the pain, then he didn't have much of a choice. He picked up his zanpakuto and walked to the door. The pain made him stumble a few times as he made his way over to the first place he could think of that there would be someone there. He rose his blade into the air as he approached one of his squad mates. In one fell swoop, a spray of blood, and a startled grunt, the man fell down. Startled, the girl next to him draws, and turns to face him. He swings again, and the girl was too stunned to block properly. Her sword falls from her hands. She stares in horror at Mito. Then she turns and runs. He follows her, and soon she too falls. He continued to move through the area, raining death wherever he went. He grunts in pain, as he feels a sword tear into his back. He turns, and attacks, only to be felled himself.

* * *

The 5th squad member stares in horror. It was Mito, the one with the illness. And both him and his zanpakuto were covered in Mito's blood. He cleans up and goes back to see Fourth taking away the body. He helps to clean up the several bodies that lie around and then went to bed. He really needed his rest, the next day was his groups training day and somehow he always got paired up with the more violent of the squads members.

* * *

Momo sat at her desk the next morning, filling out the paperwork that accompanied Mito's attack on the squad. She was disappointed really, considering he'd looked just fine earlier. And strangely just like with the 6th girl, Unohana had told her that Mito's brain had melted, which was unusual considering that his fever had gone down and stayed that way for a while.

Tia Halibel stepped over to check on the papers Momo had been filing out. It was different not having Aizen as her captain, however, Captain Aizen had made this girl who she was and that made it at least ok to have her there in his spot. Tia nodded her approval and returned to her desk to work on her own stack of paperwork.

* * *

The 5th squad member clumsily dodged a blow from his sparring partner. They used wooden sparing blades, and it wasn't a dangerous exercise. That of course, was to be said when you weren't paired with a perpetually angry person to spar with. He shouldn't have been surprised when a blow to the head caused him to see stars and stumble forward. He reached up to the now sore spot on his head and pulled his fingers away to find blood. He grumbles about the injury and makes his way to the water cooler in the room. Beside it was a stack of clean towels. He wiped his hand on it and held it to his head. One of the female members of his training group comes over to check on him. It was a dark haired girl with glasses. The man was pretty sure the girl had a crush on him. Which he was ok with actually, if she'd step up and say something.

He moves the towel and she probes around the injury. The girl was probably going to be transferred to fourth soon, since her zanpakuto was medically inclined. And the girl knew how to take care of injuries too. She makes a tsking sound and puts the towel back on the wound. She applies pressure and turns to berate his sparring partner. When she had the bleeding stopped, she lets him know it was a shallow injury it was just that head wounds bled more than regular wounds. She takes the towel to the garbage can and drops it in. She makes her way to the bathroom and scrubs her hands clean. Blood from the towel had gotten onto her skin and she didn't want to leave it there, that was gross.

* * *

Several hours later, and the girl received a call from the 4th Squad. It was what she'd been waiting for ever since the first time she'd released her zanpakuto. She rushes from 5th to the Captain's office in 4th. Captain Unohana would oversee her showing her shikai and then make the decision to keep or send her off. The kind Captain lead her to the medical ward and to a patients room. It was a member of 11th of course. He had several bleeding wounds. None were too serious. The girl, Sana draws her zanpakuto. Drawing a deep breath, she runs the blade across her hand. "Suture, Chishio," she says. The zanpakuto seems unchanged, except that it glowed crimson. Sana holds her hand over the member of 11th and her blood drips onto his skin. The crimson glow from her zanpakuto also applied to Sana's blood, and from the drop of her blood spread along the man's body. And almost hissing sound can be heard when the glow reaches his wounds. When the hissing stops, Sana sheathes her blade. The wound on her hand had disappeared.

Tentatively, Unohana pulls back the bandages, to find his wounds almost fully healed. She smiles at the girl, and takes Sana back to her office, while she filled out the transfer papers. Sana happily skipped back to 5th, papers in hand to turn in to Momo and Tia. She was going to be a healer, like she'd wanted to since meeting the kind Captain.

_**Ok I know this one is short too, I'm getting really bad about this. But it was taking me so long to come up with the right way to do this. And I'm really really sorry about how long it took to do this one. I've had no time. At all. And I'm about to have even less. Here soon I'm about to be made an Assistant General Manager where I work. Which means more work hours. But its a really good opportunity that I don't want to turn down. So I'm going to apologize to you all a lot. But here is your next chapter, and I hope you'll forgive me. Sorry to Albinos for not doing a review reply this time, I want to hurry up and post this, so I'm not gonna go look up your review this time. I'll start doing replies again next time. Later!**_


	20. Prepare

_**Hi all! I told you it would be a little while lol. Anyways, things are going good here, been pretty busy blah blah blah story this story that. Lol. Not gonna give you my excuses, you already know what they are (if you don't remember look at chapter 19 lol) Anyways, finally reached Chapter 20 and I couldn't have done it without you... literally. Looking at your reviews is what finally gets me up off my butt in the little free time I have anymore. Anyways, Onward!**_

Chapter 20...Prepare

Soi Fon leaned against her desk warily. It had been about 2 weeks since the start of the freak illness that put the Seireitei in an uproar. She'd been doing regular checks of her division members. So far the number of infected they'd found and put down was 35. And it just kept rising. Unohana had yet to figure out the way it spread, and it wasn't like she could question the victims. The minute they quit killing their brains melted. It was disgusting.

The door to her office slid open and in walked Grimmjow. Soi Fon barely met his eyes. They'd had yet to discuss what had happened in this very office, and he looked like he was just going to ignore it. And so should she. She had more things to worry about than men and kissing. But she still hadn't been able to get it off of her mind. At least she was able to refrain from blushing. She sits down in her office chair, turning to the wall. She winced as she spotting the missing items from her shelves. They were the only thing that personalized her portion of the office... the only thing that personalized the office in all actuality. She made a mental note to replace them the next time she was in the physical world. She turns back around only to come face to face with the blue haired pest who now haunted her thoughts.

"What do you want," she said with a glare. She scooted her chair back a few inches and leaned back. Anything to add distance between them. His eyes trail up the wall to the blank spots. Then drift back down to her. A smug look starts to form on his face, and Soi Fon braced herself for him to begin teasing her. But it never came. In fact, the smug look turned into a frown as he again looked at the missing items. Sighing, he leans away from her and crosses his arms.

"I'll get you new stuff. Or give you money for new stuff. Since it's my fault they broke," he said. What was he saying? He wanted to kick himself. Every time he went to tease and ridicule the woman he ended up saying sappy stuff, or things that just weren't what he wanted to say. He turned away before he could make himself look like any more of a wimp. He didn't want to see the look on her face. That smug look that said she thought she was winning the battle between them. Only Grimmjow was beginning to think that they'd both lost sight of just what that battle was anymore. Had it always been about making each other feel? Or had it started off just as two violent people letting loose. He couldn't remember. Deciding to leave completely, he steps to the door.

"Wait..." Soi Fon called. He turned, leaning against the wall by the door. He could see her struggling to come up with the words she wanted to say. He knew before she even started what it was about. That damn kiss. He couldn't erase the feel of her lips from his mind. He scoffed mentally. He was becoming such a puss. "That...that can't happen again. It's not a good time," she said. He was shocked by the ache that started in his chest. Ugh. How could he feel. He was a Hollow. But the more time he spent with these damn Shinigami, the more he felt like one. And they had hearts. They could feel. And so could he. And he hated it. Hated what was going on in his head at the moment. Hating the fact that he could tell she was too. The ache increased as he replied.

"Hadn't ever thought it would," something senseless, something cruel. He had to reply like Grimmjow would. He was Grimmjow after all, but some senseless pussy version it seemed. He couldn't have that woman make him soft, as he was in danger of doing. He saw the hurt in her eyes for just a second. His rejection a clear denial of the feelings they shared. But she was right. It wasn't a good time. And Arrancar/Shinigami dating was definitely the last thing the Seireitei needed. Grimmjow left the room, before his body reacted to the instinct to comfort her.

It was for the best really, she told herself as she watched him flee the room. So much had passed between them in that moment. They'd read each others souls it seemed. And she hated him for seeing her weak. And that was exactly what feeling for him was. A weakness. One neither of them could afford with what was going on. Still, his cold rejection hurt. Instead of saying 'I know', he'd said what she needed him to say. That he didn't feel the same even when she knew he did. Because she was used to feeling the ache that was blossoming in her chest now. It made her strong.

She stood, preparing for the meeting with Yamamoto. It would be the first, and the last dealing with the illness issue. She knew what the meeting would entail. It would be a lock down of the divisions. None of the Shinigami in the physical world would be able to return until this illness passed. None of the Shinigami here would be able to leave. Containment was the best strategy. 1St, 2nd, 12th, and 13th were still unaffected. It was best to keep it that way.

She walked in the door to the 1st division to hear a discussion that was working its way to being heated. The meeting hadn't started yet, that was clear. Yamamoto wasn't even in the room. But there was a word battle between some of the division captains, and Mayuri Kurotsuchi. Mayuri just stood there with that slightly insane expression on his face as the other captains made accusations. "I simply do not see how the continued spread of this disease is MY fault," he said. "Should you not be pointing fingers at the MEDICAL unit, in place of the scientific?" Soi Fon narrowed her eyes.

"Silence!" she exclaimed. Everyone's eyes fell to her. "The argument is pointless. Everyone just shut up and be silent until Captain-Commander arrives. It doesn't matter who's fault the spread is, what matters is that it ends." she finishes. She takes her place and the Captains who'd refrained from the argument glanced her way. Ichimaru had been pointing fingers like he always did. He was a shit stirrer. Unohana had been defending herself. Mayuri seemed to be enjoying the subject of the disease, in the same sick way he seemed to enjoy any oddity. Komamura's attempts to control the situation had only made it escalate. Hitsuguya was pointing fingers at 12. And honestly, Soi Fon agreed with him. It was Mayuri's division's responsibility to make the medicines that cured the things healing kido didn't. Besides what 4th was able to do anyways. His group was Research and \Development after all.

Yamamoto finally walks in. He always seemed to wait until the rest of the Captains had discussed things among themselves first. Maybe he actually did. It didn't matter. He called the meeting and said exactly what everyone had known he would say. The divisions left. Preparations were to be made, and at 1400 hours, the divisions were to have no more contact with each other, except through hell butterfly. And Butterfly usage was limited to Captain and Lieutenants. All vendors from the Rukon were escorted out, and the military rations were the only thing being served in the kitchens of the divisions. There were enough of these in each division to last for weeks. They all hoped it wouldn't last that long.

At 1400 hours, Soi Fon's entire division met in the training grounds. They stood in neat, organized lines. Soi Fon broke down the situation, and explained the resolution. There would be daily meetings like this, and everyone would have an inspection done by the member of 4th that had been assigned to the division. Everyone would have limited rations. Only three meals a day, which was a given. No extra trips. Names would be signed off every time a squad member came into the mess halls.

Soi Fon dropped into her chair after she'd finished explaining everything and finally took a second to relax. It was going to be a long few weeks till this virus or whatever it was ran its course. The good news was that it should be contained. There was no reason it should spread beyond what it already had. Now it was just a waiting game.

_'You're better than him,' _ says the voice of his zanpakuto. _'You could end this silly standoff right now. All you have to do is kill him.' _He frowns at his zanpakuto. It was lusting for violence more than usual today. He stepped out of the division office and called for a butterfly to send a message. It would be the only message he sent to _her_ for the entire containment. The black and pink butterfly lands on his finger. He gives the butterfly the message. As it prepares to leave, something curious happens. Without his permission, he ran his finger along the edge of the partially unsheathed blade at his side. He smeared the blood on the wing of the butterfly. It flew away. _'You are better than her too. Kill her.' _ The man glared at his zanpakuto. "Shut up Zabimaru." His zanpakuto pushed more, and finally ceased. In return, Renji received a headache. But after a while, that too subsided. He felt no other signs of illness. He decided not to report the headache or Zabi's strange insistance on violence.

The butterfly landed on the Kuchiki girl's finger. It relayed its message, and Rukia scoffed. 'We'll discuss our situation when the containment is over. Until then, I think it best that we not contact each other so we can think.' Stupid really. She knew he had just wanted to say something to her. But she also knew that he understood the situation just as well as she did.

The butterfly in her hand refused to take off. She examined the little critter and found something red on the wing. It was strange, and she gently brushed her finger over it. Removing her finger, she found it to be blood. Frowning, she took the butterfly with her to her room in the barracks, and gently took a paper towel to the wing. When its wing was dry it would fly again, she was sure of it. She set the butterfly on the stand by her bed. Then she opened the window just a crack, and left. She had a lot of work to do, as the captain was sick again, and she needed to catch his paperwork up again.

_**Ok, so not too long of a chapter and another huge wait. Sorry. At least its up though! **_

_**Squalo king: I know you didn't leave an actual review but I did want to answer your questions. Yes I read your story, forgot to review though. So i'll do it now. I think that it is well written and that you have a good idea going. It's a unique pairing (HanaxMenoly) and I think it works. And as for your other question, I hadn't originally planned to pair hanatarou with anyone, but if you would like me to (since I do requests that don't conflict with my original pairings) I can see if I can squeeze something in. That being said, I'd like to work in the pairing from your story. Like I said, it works with their personalities. So, just shoot me a review or a pm with your permission since it is your idea for a pairing :)**_

_**Albinos: I know it took forever and so did this one. I hate being so busy, but I'm so much happier than I used to be and hopefully its going to start reflecting soon. Unfortunately this chapter was more angst than romance but the romance will start back up again once I get a few more people infected and whatnot. And more of the plot unfolds. And yes more victims...many more lol and thank you for congratulating me. I appreciate it :)**_


	21. Worry

_**Ok, so another chapter, yay! This makes 21 now and I can't express how happy I am with the continued interest in this story. So just a quick question, are the characters well...in character enough? Just curious lol. So answer me that in your reviews and I'll get on with the story.**_

Chapter 21... Worry

Orihime dropped down on her couch. She'd had an exhausting day at school, and an even more exhausting day at work. Everyone was so happy to have her back at the school. She had told them she'd missed everyone too much to finish school where her aunt was and that she was glad to be back. In all honesty, she was worried about her hybrids. She hadn't had any contact with them since she'd come back. Even her soul pager wasn't sending messages through to Tia or Stark. And they were the ones she really wanted to contact. Maybe it was time to try someone else. She shook her head. She needed to make dinner before she worried about work.

She went into her kitchen and made some pork rice with a sugar glaze. She also made a fruit salad with soy sauce. She took the bowls to the table and set out plates for her and Ulquiorra. He should be home any minute. He'd had to leave while she was at work to meet up with Urahara for some items for his gigai and she'd had to walk home alone. She didn't mind really, but she'd been used to him being around her all the time. It was nice.

He walked in the door a minute later, and she had to fight the wide grin threatening to take over. He always gave her strange looks when she did that. "Dinners ready!" she said. He took a step into the kitchen, and stoically sat down. Wordlessly he took a portion of the food and devoured it. Orihime could never tell if he liked what she made or if he ate it not to hurt her feelings. He was the only one that never found an excuse not to eat her food. So maybe he liked it. He stayed at the table until she finished eating and took the plates. He always did dishes for her. Maybe he was afraid she'd hurt herself with a knife. She'd done it before.

"I'm gonna take a shower, and then you can," she said. She went into her room and grabbed some clothing and took a shower, humming nonsensical tunes the whole time. She exited and dressed in a thin cotton shirt and some drawstring night pants. She dried her hair with a towel and ran a brush through it. She stared at her reflection. She'd changed a little since before the war. Her face was slimmer, as was the rest of her body. It must have happened in Las Noches when she'd first tried to starve herself. Before Ulquiorra had threatened to force feed her. Strangely though, now the slimmer look made her face look more mature. And she was. Being a Captain had done that for her. She wasn't the same Orihime that she was back then. Maybe that was why it was so exhausting going back to school. A knock on the door brought her out of her reverie. She opened the bathroom door, looking at Ulquiorra questioningly. He shook his head and pointed at the front door. Sensing, she felt Tatsuki behind it. She pulled up her watermelon grin and threw open the door.

She greeted her friend and invited her inside. She offered her friend leftovers which the girl immediately refused, saying she'd already ate. Tatsuki shot a glare at Ulquiorra. Ichigo had told Tatsuki that Ulquiorra had kidnapped her. Orihime knew it was because Ichigo didn't want Ulquiorra to live with her. Ulquiorra finished the dishes and got clothes and went to shower.

"I can't believe you won't listen to me about him! Not only do you live with a guy, its a guy who kidnapped you and was under orders to kill you!" Tatsuki shot at her. That was the usual conversation starter for the two of them anymore.

"He just wants to protect me now," Orihime replied. Then they changed the subject. Neither of them wanted to fight. They laughed, joked, and did the usual for a while. Tatsuki pointedly ignored Ulquiorra when he came out of the shower and he said nothing to her. The two girls slept in the living room, one on the spare futon and the other on the couch. Ulquiorra slept in Orihime's room. She couldn't help but wonder if he minded the smell of her on her sheets. She'd wash them before he slept in them next time.

The next morning, Tatsuki excused herself to go shower and get ready for her meet later that day. It was Saturday, and Orihime was off work and out of school. Orihime waves goodbye to her friend and shuts the door. Ulquiorra walks out of the bedroom looking as put together as usual. Like he hadn't even slept. Maybe he hadn't. Orihime goes into the bathroom and brushes her hair and teeth, getting ready for the day. She steps out of the bathroom and into the bedroom to change. When she's finally done, she looks at Ulquiorra.

"Can you sense any of the other hybrids near by?" she asked. She knew some had gone to 13th and Karakura was 13th's area. Ulquiorra nodded at her, and they left the apartment, locking the door behind her. Orihime trusted his pesquisa better than her ability to sense someone, so she followed him to a tall building. The hybrid was sitting on the roof, but jumped down upon seeing Orihime. Orihime greeted him and asked the question that had been on her mind. "How's things going in Soul Society?" she asked. The hybrid's face turned grim.

"There's an illness running through the divisions... they are on total lockdown there. Its bad. None of us can go back right now. There are a lot of people dying. That's all we know. They didn't have time to send details, and all communications have been shut down." he said. Orihime bit her lip.

"I should go over there. I can help," she said. The hybrid shook his head. Orihime looked at Ulquiorra pleadingly. She knew he could get her in. He shook his head. He wasn't willing to risk her getting ill. Orihime frowned. She wasn't a fragile little flower anymore. It wasn't fair that she was being treated like one.

Ichigo was down in the underground training area at Urahara's when he sensed Orihime and Ulquiorra dropping in. He scowls. He couldn't stand that Ulquiorra had come with Orihime. Like she was really safe with him. He meets them, ready to get whatever it was over with. The look on Orihime's face stops him. She explains what she knows, and Ichigo stared blankly at her. It sounded bad. And Rukia was there. Orihime gives him that pleading look. Ichigo narrows his eyes. "What do you want me to do that he can't." Ichigo told her. Orihime looked shocked. As well she should. It was the first time he'd openly said something that showed how much he hated Ulquiorra. But the girl just puffed out her cheeks and stood straighter. When had she grown a backbone?

"You can get me into Soul Society. I know you can," she said. Ichigo was quick to point out that Ulquiorra had a direct route there. Her cheeks deflated and she cast a look at the dark haired man next to her. "Ulquiorra-san won't take me," she said. Ichigo nearly laughed. So the bastard really did take at least a little care of her. Ichigo shook his head at her instead.

"I'll see what I can do, but if they don't want us there, I don't think there's any way we are getting in without Ulquiorra. Maybe not even then." Ichigo expected her to pout. The Orihime from before would have. Instead she just nodded. Ichigo didn't know what had changed her more... captivity or being a captain.

Uryu let loose an arrow at the hollow he'd come to face. More had appeared lately, but Uryu didn't think it had anything to do with the bad feeling he'd had. More likely it was because of the hybrid Shinigami from 13th that were now hanging around. He had to admit, they were throwing off his senses. Sure, Soul Society had given him an updated pager keyed in so that the Arrancar didn't set off the hollow sensor, but his own personal sense had been shot to hell. Which was why the hollow that was slowly dissipating had managed to get the drop on him. Now Uryu's dinner lay scattered across the ground. Lucky for him, it was all packaged items. He picked them up and headed back to his little apartment. Moving from his father's had been freeing. It had also been hard on his pockets. He'd had to pick up a job at a coffee shop. Now he couldn't get the smell of coffee from his skin. It was awful. But the tourists loved their coffee so it made for a good money. He unlocked the door, and set his groceries on the table. There were two messages on his answering maching. The first, turned out to be Orihime.

{'Hey just wanted to let you know that there's this mystery plague going on in Soul Society, and Ichigo and Ulquiorra-san wont let me go fix it. Figured as a genius you'd be curious to know more about it and might be willing to help me get in there,'} You could hear Ichigo making denials in the background. Uryu smirked. Orihime sure had learned how to be strong. Going as far as pretending to go to him to try to get Ichigo's help. The next message was confusing at first. The voice being the strangest thing. It was a lackluster, hollow voice. One that he knew.

{'I'm sure that by now you are aware of the current situation in Soul Society. I can also be sure of the fact that former Captain Inoue will attempt to enter the Soul Society. This cannot be allowed. We of the 12th Division are willing to offer you several... unique quincy items in exchange for your help preventing her entrance until the situation has passed. This will be my only contact until the situation ends. If she does not enter our grounds before my next contact, I will deliver your belongings personally. That is all.'} The voice of course, belonged to Nemu Kurotsuchi. It was strange, that with an illness going through Soul Society, that they wouldn't allow someone with the godlike powers Orihime had to come fix the problem. But maybe they were just trying to cure it, in case it showed up again and Orihime wasn't... around. Still they could just tell her that themselves if she showed up. So why the additional insurance? There was something strange going on. This was the bad feeling he had. He was sure of it. Which unfortunately meant, that he wasn't going to be getting his hands on those items.


End file.
